+-------------------------------+
|DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION UNIVERSE|
+-------------------------------+
FAQ/Guide
by JesseTehSkox (Jesse Haun)
crazyperson90@gmail.com
Version 1.0
(Sorry... no sexy ASCII art here!)
+-----------------+
|TABLE OF CONTENTS|
+-----------------+------------------------------------------------------------
|1. INTRODUCTION
|2. DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: THE BASICS
| 2A. Learning the Basics with Game Mode
| 2B. Jesse's Assorted Dancing Tips
|3. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
|4. LICENSED SONGS, PART ONE
| 4A. Don't Play Nice
| 4B. Everytime We Touch (Radio Edit)
| 4C. Feels Just Like It Should
| 4D. Guilt is a Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix)
| 4E. Love Is On Our Side
| 4F. Magic Carpet Ride (Steir's Mix)
| 4G. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix)
| 4H. Rapper's Delight
| 4I. Run It!
| 4J. Saturday Night
| 4K. September '99
| 4L. Slam
| 4M. Slow (Chemical Brothers remix)
| 4N. Somebody To Love
| 4O. Twist
|5. LICENSED SONGS, PART TWO
| 5A. 8-bit
| 5B. All Up in My Face
| 5C. Beyond Here And Now (Intensified)
| 5D. Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix)
| 5E. Dancefloor Killer
| 5F. GO! (Mahalo Mix)
| 5G. Grandolin
| 5H. Heart With A View (Echo Image Remix)
| 5I. Horsemen of the Invisible
| 5J. HOT LIMIT
| 5K. Indian Summer
| 5L. Less 'Yap Yap'
| 5M. Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix)
| 5N. Race Against Time
| 5O. SKY HIGH
| 5P. Summer Fantasy
| 5Q. Test Room
| 5R. The Hop
| 5S. There's A Rhythm
| 5T. We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix)
| 5U. Wraith
| 5V. WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX)
| 5W. Youngmen Blues
|6. NEW KONAMI ORIGINALS
| 6A. Bongo!
| 6B. Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix)
| 6C. Cosmic Hammer
| 6D. Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix)
| 6E. Hydrosound
| 6F. Ignition
| 6G. Koibito
| 6H. Loops
| 6I. Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix)
| 6J. PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix)
| 6K. Return of the Toe Jam
| 6L. roughneck
| 6M. Treble, Bass, and Attitude
| 6N. Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix)
| 6O. What Have Her
|7. OLD KONAMI ORIGINALS
| 7A. B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX)
| 7B. BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS
| 7C. Cachaca
| 7D. DIAMOND JEALOUSY
| 7E. Drivin'
| 7F. Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix)
| 7G. INFINITE PRAYER
| 7H. INSERTiON
| 7I. KAGEROW (Dragonfly)
| 7J. MAXIMIZER
| 7K. My Only Shining Star
| 7L. PARANOiA EVOLUTION
| 7M. rain of sorrow
| 7N. Senses
| 7O. SOMETHING WONDERFUL
| 7P. Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production)
| 7Q. think ya better D
| 7R. Tir na n'Og
| 7S. Vanity Angel
| 7T. Xenon
|8. DOWNLOADABLE SONGS
| 8A. BROKEN MY HEART (Cusimo & Co. Starlite Mix)
| 8B. Me and My Friends
| 8C. Audiophilosophy
| 8D. AM-3P
| 8E. ECSTACY
| 8F. ON THE JAZZ (Smooth House Mix)
| 8G. Beside You
| 8H. White Hot
| 8I. CANDY*
| 8J. KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG
|9. COMPLETE LIST OF STEPCHARTS BY STEP RATING
|10. POWER COURSES
| 10A. Power 1 (acid-tech mix)
| 10B. Power 2 (Shuffle Mix)
| 10C. Power 3 (south beach mix)
| 10D. Power 4 (subTranced mix)
| 10E. Power 5 (On the Floor Mix)
|11. QUEST MODE... BLECCH!
| 11A. Five Basic Types of Challenges
| 11B. Backup Dancers, Song and Movie Clips, and Other Ways to Suck Less
| 11C. Session Offers
| 11D. Championships
|12. CHALLENGE MODE
| 12A. SIMPLE
| 12B. MODERATE
| 12C. ORDINARY
| 12D. SUPERIOR
| 12E. MARVELOUS
| 12F. GENUINE
| 12G. PARAMOUNT
| 12H. EXORBITANT
| 12I. CATASTROPHIC
| 12J. APOCALYPTIC
|13. OTHER MODES
| 13A. Party Mode
| 13B. Workout Mode
| 13C. Xbox Live
| 13D. Training Mode
| 13E. Edit Mode
| 13F. Jukebox
| 13G. Records
| 13H. Options
|14. GLITCHINESS
|15. VERSION HISTORY
|16. LEGAL CRAP
|17. IN CONCLUSION...
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+---------------+
|1. INTRODUCTION|
+---------------+
Welcome, one and all, to my exciting FAQing debut! Exciting, eh? Not really?
Damn... oh well. The only reason I'm really doing this is that DDR FAQ
superstar CyricZ doesn't have an Xbox 360 and I thought we needed SOMETHING
here. Perhaps a horrible pastiche of what he usually does? Yay!
What's there to say about me? I'm a 17-year-old furry (yeah, I know, "damn
pervert, scourge of the universe," I've heard it a thousand times before, don't
email me as if I haven't) from the horrific hellhole of Absarokee, Montana.
I like DDR. Obviously. And most Bemani games, really. And I suck at
introductions. Obviously.
+-------------------------------------+
|2. DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: THE BASICS|
+-------------------------------------+
"How do I play DDR," you ask? Firstly, I'd like to welcome you back; what was
it like living under a rock for nine years? Now, you've got a dance pad with
four directions: left, down, up, and right. First, you pick a song, then its
time to dance! See that line of arrows at the top of the screen? That's the
"Step Zone." As the song plays, arrows will scroll up to the Step Zone in time
with the music. When an arrow reaches the Step Zone, "step" on the direction
that matches the arrow! When two arrows come up at once, you must press both at
once, by jumping. Those long green arrows are Freeze Arrows – you have to step
on these at the beginning and hold that direction down until the freeze arrow
ends. It's just that simple.
But with these simple controls, things can still get quite hairy. There's no
way in hell a DDR beginner will survive any songs on Expert or probably even
Difficult. Stick with the Beginner and Basic difficulties until you've got the
hang of things.
If this is your first DDR game ever, it's probably wise to start with the
"Basic Edition." This teaches you the basics of how to play, has a "Lesson
Mode" for additional enlightenment, and "Game Mode Light" which features only
the Beginner difficulty and a shortened songlist. When you're comfortable
with the game, move onto the "Master Edition!" That's where the real learning
happens! Start in the regular Game Mode here.
--------------------------------------
2A. LEARNING THE BASICS WITH GAME MODE
--------------------------------------
It's the standard DDR mode, and something you should definitely get
acquainted with if you're a DDR newbie, before you even think about tackling
anything else! Especially not that nasty nasty Quest Mode...
First, you're asked to select a style:
4 PANELS: Standard DDR gameplay with one dance pad per player.
8 PANELS: Each player dances on two pads at once. This is exclusively a one-
player mode in the PS2 editions, but I'm fairly certain you can do this with
two here. Either way, be aware that every song has different steps for this
mode than "4 Panels." (Also, given my limited living space, I can't cover
this mode in this FAQ currently. I apologize...)
Next, we reach the "Setup Players" screen. Any additional players should hit
the A button now to join in. You can use X and Y to choose your characters
(there's some sexy ladies in this game, if I do say myself...) and up and
down to change your difficulty level. The five fundamental difficulty levels
of DDR are as follows:
BEGINNER: Really easy stuff for beginners, obviously. DDR Universe doesn't
give these songs step ratings, but surely they'd almost all be one-footers.
If you can do this, move on to Basic posthaste; Beginner won't do much to
improve you DDR skills.
BASIC: The easiest "normal" difficulty, with ratings usually ranging from 2 to
5 feet. Pretty simple stuff, mostly. Steps are mostly just on the beat.
DIFFICULT: Songs here generally range from 4 to 7 feet in difficulty. Steps
here tend to follow the music more closely.
EXPERT: Most Expert charts here range from 6 to 9 feet. This is where things
get tough, as steps will either follow the song exactly, or just generally
kick up the difficulty for extreme pain... or possibly both. Whee.
ONI: Sort of an "alternate Expert" chart that only a few songs have. These are
generally harder than the normal Expert steps, in fact all the true 10-footers
in this game are Oni charts. However, they can also be easier than the
original, as is the case with "B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX)" Oni.
Now we've made it to the "Select Music" screen! Use left and right to switch
songs. You can still use up and down to change difficulty here; no need to go
back a screen. While picking songs, in addition to simple step ratings, you can
also view a graphical representation of the song's difficulty, the "Groove
Radar." This rates songs on five separate attributes:
STREAM: Pretty much just the overall number of steps.
VOLTAGE: The overall density of steps; how many steps are squashed into how
much time.
AIR: The overall number of double steps, or jumps.
FREEZE: The overall number (and possibly length) of Freeze Arrows.
CHAOS: The number of "chaotic" steps, either steps that aren't quarters or
eighths, or steps that force you to turn as you step.
Use A to confirm when you've picked the desired song and difficulty. Select
"Random" if you're not sure what to pick, and what to leave that choice up to
the game.
Also, if you go to "ABC Order," you can change to other ways to order the songs
than by the logical default order. The panel always displays what the next
ordering scheme is; the game uses the Default Order by default. "ABC Order"
puts the songs into different folders in alphabetical order, regardless of song
type. "BPM Order" puts all the songs in order according to their maximum BPM,
from fastest to slowest. And the seemingly useless "Artist Order" works
similarly to ABC Order, except it goes by the artist's name instead of song
title.
If you hold down A when you select a song, you'll be taken to the "Arrow
Options" screen first. You can tweak various aspects of gameplay, including:
SPEED: The speed that the arrows scroll up the screen. Note that this only
affects the speed of the arrows, not of the song itself; in essence, it just
spaces arrows out more (or less) so make them easier to read. Options range
from 0.5x to 8x; the default speed is, of course, 1x.
BOOST: If this is on, the arrows will gradually speed up as they move toward
the step zone.
APPEARANCE: "Visible" is the default setting. With "Hidden" on, the arrows
will vanish about halfway up the screen. "Sudden" is the opposite; arrows
start out invisible and appear halfway up. "Phantom" makes the arrows only
appear very briefly halfway up. "Stealth" makes the arrows completely
invisible.
TURN: "Off" is default. "Mirror" rotates all arrows 180 degrees. "Left" rotates
them 90 degrees to the left; "Right" does the same, but in the other
direction. "Shuffle" picks two random sets of arrows and reverses their
position, giving a new arrangement that generally doesn't fall under any of
the other options.
OTHER: Again, "Off" is default. "Flat" makes all the arrows the same color,
making it that much harder to tell different kinds of notes apart. "Solo"
gives you different colors for the different kinds of notes. "Dark" removes
the step zone from the screen. "Help" makes certain arrows glow yellow;
stepping on them restores more of your dance gauge than usual.
MODIFY: "Off" is default once again. "Cut" removes all non-quarter notes from
the song (but really cripples your chances of a good score on higher
difficulties). "LR-only" converts all steps to either left or right arrows;
no steps are actually eliminated, so I don't think this affects your score.
"All jump" seemingly converts every pair of steps in the song into a jump,
which makes it exhausting, but also pretty dumbed-down. "All freeze" makes
every step a freeze arrow. On the other end of the spectrum, "No jump" and
"No freeze" completely remove those respective step types from the song,
leaving only regular steps in their wake.
REVERSE: Turn this on, and the arrows will scroll in "reverse," that is,
from top to bottom.
Think you're ready to play a song? I already explained how to play; just step
on the arrows! As you step, you'll get a "step rating" for your accuracy on
each arrow:
PERFECT: You stepped precisely on the arrow, more or less, and got the best
possible rating, in this game at least. Combo continues, dance gauge goes
up, and you're awarded the maximum possible amount of points for the step.
GREAT: You nearly stepped on the arrow... close enough, right? Combo still
continues, the dance gauge still goes up, but you only get half the points
for that step.
GOOD: You missed the step by a bit. Your combo stops, and your dance gauge and
score are left completely unaffected.
ALMOST: You missed the step by quite a lot. Your combo stops, the dance gauge
drops, and you get no points.
BOO: You managed to completely miss the step somehow. Combo stops, dance gauge
falls, and you're awarded no points whatsoever.
Two additional ratings exist that apply exclusively to freeze arrows:
OK!: You held down the freeze arrow for its entire duration, so the dance gauge
goes up and you're awarded points... the normal maximum score for a normal
step, apparently.
NG: You stepped off the freeze arrow before it ended. This doesn't effect your
combo negatively, but the dance gauge takes a hit and you don't get any points
for it.
The game also shows you your combo, or how many Perfects and Greats you've got
in a row. Note that jumps add two to your combo in this game.
If you let your dance gauge empty out, you fail the song, obviously! So try to
keep it as full as you can, by getting lots of Perfects and Greats!
After the song, you'll reach the evaluation screen, where you're awarded a
letter grade based on your performance. I'm not currently 100% sure how DDR
Universe calculates this exactly (possibly that archaic dance point system?),
so if anyone knows for sure, email me! The letter grades range from AAA
(only awarded for a Full Perfect Combo) clear down to E (You failed!).
There's a lot of different kinds of steps that you'll come to know and love.
Beginners will mostly see quarter notes, notes that are strictly on the beat,
and intermediate players will get used to eighth notes, those off-colored
ones right between quarters. But when you enter the dreary waters of Expert
charts, you'll face some fairly unusual stuff...
DOUBLE-TAPS, TRIPLE-TAPS, ETC.: A series of eighth notes on the same arrow, so
named because you'll be using the same foot to tap that arrow repeatedly. They
can be annoying, but there's no super-secret trick to making these easier, so
you'll just have to train up your foot for extended tapping.
CROSSOVERS: Steps that force you to turn your body and, quite literally, cross
your legs over. A basic example is the pattern of left-down-right, where you
hit the left arrow with your left foot, the down with your right, and then
cross your left foot over to hit the right arrow. It can be weird at first,
but it's vital to your success in the harder songs, which often feature series
of crossovers that force you to turn your body 180, 270, or even a full 360
degrees. These take practice; start small, and gradually learn to make bigger
turns. The hardest part is getting used to not facing the TV at all times...
CHAOS: As these notes are called on the Groove Radar, any arrows that aren't
pure quarters and eighths. Perhaps most basically, but not easy by any means,
are sixteenth notes, which you step twice as fast as pure eighths. You'll also
encounter twelfth notes (commonly referred to as "triplets"), and even such
horrors as twenty-fourth and thirty-second notes! Fortunately, chaos is almost
always controlled chaos; that is, they match up with something in the song, so
make sure to listen, and know your songs!
GALLOPS: A name given to a sequence of steps consisting of two sixteenth notes
in a row, two sixteenths of nothing, two more sixteenth notes, and so on. Step
these sort of like a horse galloping (hence the name!). A few songs in this
game feature assorted types of pseudo-gallops, either with only a one-note
break between each pair of steps, or even in triplets instead of sixteenths.
---------------------------------
2B. JESSE'S ASSORTED DANCING TIPS
---------------------------------
Now you know how to play. Time to consider other important stuff. Like, uh...
pads! Unfortunately, there aren't exactly a lot of choices for the 360 yet.
Your best choice is the one that comes bundled with the game; do NOT get any
Mad Catz crap or anything like that. Trust me. If you'd like something
sturdier, sorry, you're out of luck for now unless you're up to the task of
building yourself a pad... and considering my lacking technical knowledge, I
can't really help you there. Sorry again.
Pay attention to the beat, especially in early stages where steps tend to
follow the beat exclusively.
Try to step with the balls of your feet. Not your heels. It's a good habit to
get into. Stepping with your heels can make your ankles hurt, something just
about anyone who's played DDR has experienced. That was really my biggest
problem getting into the game, but don't give up, you'll get used to it and
learn to step in a more ankle-friendly way soon enough.
Stay hydrated! DDR is exercise, and like any other kind of exercise, that's
important. Water is good. So is fruit juice. Really, any cool beverage will
do... so, like, don't go drinking a pot of hot coffee on the dancefloor. That's
just stupid.
Try to return your feet to the center as rarely as possible. It may seem
perfectly acceptable in early songs, but as you get into the harder stuff,
you'll face long streams and other rapid-fire steps that don't really give
you the opportunity to return to the center. Best to get used to staying away
from there now then, eh?
+----------------------------+
|3. FRQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS|
+----------------------------+
Q: What is Dance Dance Revolution UNIVERSE?
A: Why, it's the first installment of Konami's popular Dance Dance Revolution
series to come to the Xbox 360!
Q: How many songs are there in this mix?
A: 58 by default, and 15 more unlockable. Add 10 more if you're gonna download
the "Megapack" from Xbox Live.
Q: Can you rip your own songs and play them on this game?
A: Everyone always asks that when a new DDR comes out. The answer is no, and I
doubt they'll ever add that feature. And if they do, believe me, you'll hear
all about it... so please, for the love of all that is holy, STOP ASKING!
Q: Why aren't there more "classic" DDR tunes in here? Why all this new crap?
A: I personally prefer getting a whole bunch of new tunes. Konami of Hawaii is
trying to differentiate the Ultramix/Universe series from traditional DDR,
so there's more new material and less traditional DDR stuff here. But they
did finally revive HOT LIMIT for its first US appearance ever, so you can at
least take comfort in that...
Q: Are there any ten-footers in the game?
A: Only one stepchart has been given an official ten-footer rating: Love Me Do
(The Acolyte's Mix) Expert Doubles. However, the Oni charts aren't given
ratings in this game for some reason, and four of those – Grandolin, Return
of the Toe Jam, Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix), and MAXIMIZER – would surely be
rated a 10 if Oni charts were actually rated.
Q: Quest Mode sucks! Is there any other way to unlock songs?
A: Sadly, no. At least not that we know of. There might be a special unlock
code, like some of the Ultramixes had, but if there is it hasn't been
discovered yet.
Q: What the hell? I cleared all the Paramount challenges but PARANOIA EVOLUTION
isn't unlocked!
A: Huge mistake in the achievements, my friend. That song is unlocked through
the dreaded Quest Mode, just like all the rest.
Q: What's the deal with beatmania/pop'n music/GuitarFreaks/drummania?
A: These are some other popular Bemani series, and quite a few songs from those
games have made the leap over to DDR. beatmania is another popular rhythm
game series (popular in Japan, at least), classified as a "DJ simulator," in
which you have a set of keys and a turntable to "scratch." Using those, you
actually "play" a variety of songs... so if you're crap at the game, the
songs sound like crap too. It's cool. pop'n music is sort of like a more
cartoony version of beatmania, with big colored buttons instead of a keypad,
that mainly features happy songs and tunes from popular anime. GuitarFreaks
and drummania are games in which you play songs with a guitar and a set of
drums, respectively. Several songs into the series, Konami got the bright
idea to combine the two games, giving them identical songlists and allowing
the machines to link up. And you thought Rock Band was such a totally
original idea...
Q: (Insert song here) was in (insert game here) first, you moron!
A: That's not a question. Anyway, while I consider my knowledge of Bemani to be
relatively thorough, and I checked and double-checked this stuff, I'm not
perfect by any means. Correct me if you see something wrong... but please,
be a little nicer than that! :D
Q: What's with those genres you have listed? My gerbil knows more about music
than you!
A: Uh... good for him? I'll be honest, as much as I love music, I'm totally
inept when it comes to categorizing it. I tried to narrow these down through
research as much as I could, but there's no doubt in my mind that I screwed
some of these up. Again, correct me if you know more than me, preferably
without any unfavorable comparisons to your pet rodents...
If you've got a question for me concerning this game, go ahead and email me at
crazyperson90@gmail.com! Just, you know, make sure I haven't already answered
it somewhere in this guide, please. Don't be lazy. I hate laziness.
+---------------------------+
|4. LICENSED SONGS, PART ONE|
+---------------------------+
The first bunch of licensed songs seem to be Universe's big-name licenses,
featuring artists that might actually be known to the general public. Of course
the general public is mostly idiots, sooo... yeah. One notable trend is that
most of these songs are pretty damn slow; "Slam" is the only song that reaches
a fairly brisk pace.
----------------------------------
4A. Don't Play Nice - Verbalicious
----------------------------------
BPM: 105
Genre: Hip-Hop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 78 1 0
BASIC 3 118 18 1
DIFFICULT 5 209 43 18
EXPERT 9 318 82 68
EXPERT NOTES: Possibly the toughest hip-hop song on any DDR mix out there.
Lots of streamage, plenty of small sixteenth clusters that tend to follow
the lyrics, plus 82 FRIKKIN' JUMPS. Yeah... this song don't play nice. Once
you get the hang of it, though, it's actually a pretty fun chart.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Verbalicious is Natalia Keery-Fisher, a British musician,
actress, and MC. Her acting resume includes roles on the "Britcom" All About
Me and long-running BBC radio drama "The Archers." In the world of music,
she's generally considered to be a one-hit wonder, this being her only real
hit, released in 2005.
--------------------------------------------
4B. Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix) - Cascada
--------------------------------------------
BPM: 142
Genre: Dance Pop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 120 2 2
BASIC 3 131 4 40
DIFFICULT 5 227 18 19
EXPERT 7 301 27 32
EXPERT NOTES: Be alert, the steps start in pretty quick on this one. Now,
the song itself is mostly simple medium-length streams, with a crossover
or two thrown in for good measure. The one trick that might trip you up
is the placement of a few three-note sixteenth clusters, thrown in right
after jumps.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Cascada is a German Eurodance act consisting of Natalie
Horler, DJ Manian, and Yann Pfeiffer, though Natalie is clearly the most
well-known of the group, Cascada sometimes being used colloquially to
refer to just her. This song, released in 2005, is generally considered
to be her biggest hit.
Miscellany: This song has a special music video, which nullifies the dancing
characters. Fun fact – this song's chorus is borrowed from another song of
the same name, released by Maggie Reilly in 1992.
------------------------------------------
4C. Feels Just Like It Should - Jamiroquai
------------------------------------------
BPM: 87
Genre: Funk
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 53 2 6
BASIC 3 94 9 6
DIFFICULT 5 168 0 12
EXPERT 7 273 30 18
EXPERT NOTES: Slow songs tend to really follow the rhythm, and this is no
exception. Paying attention to the song is a must. This rather tricky seven
in particular loves its offbeat jump streams, gallops, and later on, sixteenth
clusters, all following the song's bizarre rhythms.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Dancing Stage Unleashed 3 (UK XBOX)
About The Artist: Jamiroquai (a portmanteau of Jam and Iroquois) is a Grammy-
winning UK funk/soul/disco band headed by the wonderfully eccentric Jay Kay.
This is the first single off the band's 2005 album, "Dynamite."
Miscellany: This song has a special music video, which nullifies the dancing
characters. In addition to its appearances here and on DSU3, a cover version
of the song by LH MUSIC CREATION appeared on the arcade version of SuperNOVA.
-----------------------------------------------------------
4D. Guilt Is a Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix) - New Order
-----------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 133
Genre: Electro-Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 86 4 4
BASIC 4 160 0 11
DIFFICULT 6 237 3 9
EXPERT 9 339 24 11
EXPERT NOTES: Things quickly get harder than this one initially lets on, with
crossoveriffic streams and lots of three-note sixteenth clusters in quick
succession. Right on the ending you'll be stepping gradually more spaced-out
triplet notes.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: New Order is an English rock group currently consisting of
Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris, and Phil Cunningham. Peter Hook was also
part of the lineup up through mid-2007. "Guilt Is a Useless Emotion" appeared
on their 2005 album, "Waiting for the Sirens' Call," and this remix by
renowned remix artist Mac Quayle was featured as a bonus track on the album's
US release.
---------------------------------------------
4E. Love Is On Our Side - Frank Popp Ensemble
---------------------------------------------
BPM: 143
Genre: Soul
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 87 8 0
BASIC 3 115 1 2
DIFFICULT 5 241 29 21
EXPERT 9 369 45 14
EXPERT NOTES: This song is mostly in pretty long streams with double-taps and
some pretty hellacious crossovers, often ending in a jump. There's a couple
gallops toward the middle, but otherwise, it's all about the streams, baby!
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Made up of Frank Popp (obviously), Sam Leigh-Brown, Stephan
Mohr, Lele Lugosi, Freddy Rococo, and Tino Turner, The Frank Popp Ensemble is
known for combining modern music production and pop appeal with music styles
from between 1960 to 1972, according to their website. This song comes from
the German band's self-titled 2005 album.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
4F. Magic Carpet Ride (Steir's Mix) - Philip Steir feat. Steppenwolf
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 112
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 68 0 2
BASIC 3 100 6 16
DIFFICULT 5 170 22 30
EXPERT 7 235 17 7
EXPERT NOTES: The hardest it gets here is with a few short streams with
crossovers, and a couple instances of three eighth note jumps (all the same)
in a row. Nothing too terribly harrowing, especially at this speed.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Originally consisting of John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Michael
Monarch, Goldy McJohn, Rushton Moreve, and Matt Landry (on spoons!),
Steppenwolf is a Canadian rock band most successful during the 60's. "Magic
Carpet Ride" was one of their biggest hits from that time period, released as
a single in 1968. Philip Steir is a renowned remix artist who released this
remixed version in, as far as I can tell, 1999.
----------------------------------------------------------
4G. Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix) - Depeche Mode
----------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 127
Genre: Synthpop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 115 2 0
BASIC 3 134 0 3
DIFFICULT 6 252 30 16
EXPERT 8 272 80 24
EXPERT NOTES: Quite a bit harder than you'd probably think. This one throws a
lot of different stuff at you: crossovers, double taps, streams chock full of
jumps, and even some seven-note-long sixteenth clusters.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand Mew!
About The Artist: Depeche Mode are an influential British electronic band,
formed in 1980, and currently consisting of the trio of Martin Gore, Dave
Gahan, and Andy Fletcher. "Precious" was released in 2005 as the first single
off the album "Playing the Angel." Sasha is a Welsh DJ and record producer who
was a central figure in the popularization of electronic music in the late
1980s.
--------------------------------------
4H. Rapper's Delight - Sugar Hill Gang
--------------------------------------
BPM: 108
Genre: Classic Hip-Hop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 68 9 0
BASIC 2 93 10 10
DIFFICULT 5 200 24 14
EXPERT 8 325 15 2
EXPERT NOTES: Sort of a quirky chart here, with lots of sixteenths, either in
clusters which can get surprisingly long, or in gallops. Of course, pretty
much everyone knows this song (like it or not), so it should be easy enough
to figure out – the steps are always following either the vocals or the
bassline.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: The Sugarhill Gang is a pioneering US hip hop group, known
mostly for this song, released in 1979, which was notably the first hip hop
single to become a Top 40 Hit.
-------------------------
4I. Run It! - Chris Brown
-------------------------
BPM: 100
Genre: R&B
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 48 2 5
BASIC 2 70 7 21
DIFFICULT 5 166 16 13
EXPERT 8 288 32 34
EXPERT NOTES: This song totally never deserved to be an eight-footer... and
yet, here it is. Pretty long streams with jumps thrown in, and sixteenth
clusters aplenty (typically following Brown's vocals), all at a fortunately
slow BPM.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Christopher Maurice Brown, better known as simply Chris
Brown, is a American R&B singer who burst onto the music scene with this song,
released as his debut single in 2005. It's become a huge international hit,
peaking at #1 in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and at #2 in the
UK.
Miscellany: Konami is apparently on a big Chris Brown kick right now. "Say
Goodbye" appears on the US console version of SuperNOVA 2, and Hottest Party
gets a cover version of "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)". Lucky us...
-----------------------------
4J. Saturday Night - Ozomatli
-----------------------------
BPM: 101
Genre: Latin Hip-Hop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 51 0 1
BASIC 2 77 2 0
DIFFICULT 4 125 2 2
EXPERT 5 187 25 9
EXPERT NOTES: Harder than the average five-footer, with jumps thrown into the
short streams, and after the music cuts out briefly, a rather sizable cluster
of sixteenths on the "Get ready for a Saturday night" part, which fortunately
just has you alternating between the left and right arrows.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Ozomatli (whose name apparently comes from the Nahuatl word
for the Aztec astrological symbol of the monkey – thanks, Wikipedia) is a
multi-ethnic nine piece band known just as much for their activism as their
wide array of musical styles. This song is off their 2004 album "Street
Signs."
-------------------------------------------------------
4K. September '99 - Earth Wind & Fire vs. Phats & Small
-------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: "Mutant Disco"
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 76 1 5
BASIC 2 142 4 26
DIFFICULT 5 214 7 24
EXPERT 8 312 8 50
EXPERT NOTES: A relatively simple eight-footer, consisting mostly of
short-to-medium-length streams with some crossovers. Toward the end, there's
short streams with freezes thrown in. Pretty typical stuff.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Earth, Wind & Fire is a well-known American band formed in
1969, known for fusing different genres of music, including R&B, soul, disco,
and funk. British house duo Phats & Small, whose sound is self-described as
"mutant disco," released this remix of EWF's September in, obviously, 1999.
-------------------
4L. Slam - Pendulum
-------------------
BPM: 87-174
Genre: Drum and Bass
(The song starts out at 87 BPM but quickly jumps to 174 about 17 seconds in.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 75 2 7
BASIC 4 164 2 10
DIFFICULT 6 290 12 31
EXPERT 9 404 37 46
EXPERT NOTES: This is a toughie, folks. It starts off easy enough, but after
the speed-up, you'll quickly see why this earned its nine-foot rating. There's
some long-ass streams here, with plenty of crossovers, all moving at a decent
clip. There's also a decent amount of jumps thrown in. Exhausting.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Pendulum is an electronic group hailing from Perth, Australia
though they relocated to the UK in 2003. Its members are Rob Swire, Gareth
McGrillen, and Paul Herding. "Slam," released in 2005, is their biggest hit to
date, having peaked at #34 on the UK Singles Chart.
--------------------------------------------------
4M. Slow (Chemical Brothers remix) - Kylie Minogue
--------------------------------------------------
BPM: 115
Genre: Dance Pop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 73 1 2
BASIC 3 121 1 15
DIFFICULT 5 194 24 16
EXPERT 8 314 13 6
EXPERT NOTES: Actually gets pretty damn tricky. There's some truly massive
streamage here – the one toward the end is 115 notes long – crossovers and
all, but perhaps the nastiest surprise are the also rather largish sixteenth
clusters, 17 notes long, that both finish off an "off-beat stream." Oh, and
did I mention that the first one leads right into a jump? It's a damn good
thing that this one is, as the title says... slow.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Aussie pop princess Kylie Minogue, widely regarded as one of
Europe and Australia's most recognizable sex symbols, is perhaps most notable
for having been able to revive her failing career after a 15-year absence with
the 2000 hit, "Can't Get You Out Of My Head." The Chemical Brothers are an
electronica duo from London, known as one of the pioneers of the big beat
genre, and renowned for their high-quality live sets.
-----------------------------------
4N. Somebody To Love - Boogie Pimps
-----------------------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 66 6 1
BASIC 3 103 7 2
DIFFICULT 5 149 32 2
EXPERT 7 196 47 15
EXPERT NOTES: A fairly uncomplicated seven. The streams are all rather simple
(a few double-taps aside), and the parts where it goes off-beat aren't
really jarring enough to throw you off.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: The Boogie Pimps are an electronic duo from Erfurt, Germany,
formed by Mark J. Klak and Mirko Jacob. This song, a cover version of the
original by Jefferson Airplane, was released as their debut single in 2003.
---------------------
4O. Twist - Goldfrapp
---------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Electronic-Dance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 102 2 6
BASIC 3 119 0 24
DIFFICULT 5 215 16 13
EXPERT 7 248 81 52
EXPERT NOTES: Pretty interesting chart, really. There's two main things here
that you'll be seeing a lot: goofy sequences of freeze notes, some of which
will indeed have you twisting around, and lengthy sequences of jumps. It
mostly alternates between those two, halting occasionally for some streamage
as is obligatory for any Expert chart.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Goldfrapp is yet another British electronica group.
Consisting of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, they are well-known for their
visual theatrics. This song was released as a part of their 2003 album "Black
Cherry."
Miscellany: Like Chris Brown, Goldfrapp is one of those artists Konami seems to
have recently developed an inexplicable boner for. The home version of
SuperNOVA 2 includes not one, but two tracks from them on its songlist:
"Number 1 (Alan Braxe & Fred Falke Main Remix)" and "Strict Machine." Oh well,
at least I actually like Goldfrapp! Er... no offense, Chris Brown. Oh, and
just listen to all that moaning! Remember when Konami were uber-prudish with
the DDR series over here? Not anymore!
+---------------------------+
|5. LICENSED SONGS, PART TWO|
+---------------------------+
The second group of licensed tunes seems to contain the more obscure licenses
in the game. Several of these return from past DDRs, with four of them ("GO!
(Mahalo Mix)," "Grandolin," "Race Against Time," and "There's a Rhythm")
having appeared as recently as Ultramix 4. Also, it's notable that "HOT LIMIT"
finally makes its return to the DDR scene, though in a shortened form.
-------------------------
5A. 8-bit - Drew Campbell
-------------------------
BPM: 209
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 75 8 4
BASIC 4 122 9 17
DIFFICULT 6 260 21 35
EXPERT 8 339 49 23
EXPERT NOTES: It's pretty calm to start, but things quickly kick into high
gear with a whole bunch of short streams coming at you fast, some of them
ending in jumps, which is pretty tough at this speed. Oh, and double taps,
which are also hard at this speed. Ouch. Toward the end of this one, you'll
face some even longer streams, with lots o' crossovers. Yikes. I'm sure if
Universe had Information Mode they'd draw some parallel between the
difficulty here and the difficulty of classic 8-bit games...
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Drew Campbell is, as near as I can tell, the producer and
engineer for Adeline Studios, a music production firm located in Oakland,
California... I don't know if that's THIS Drew Campbell, but it's the best
I can do. I'm no CyricZ, folks! If any of you know more than me, please, email
me! Please!
Miscellany: Another of Drew's songs, "Big Up (Binghi Ghost Remix)", appears on
DDR ULTRAMIX 4.
-------------------------------------
5B. All Up in My Face - DJ? Accucrack
-------------------------------------
BPM: 144
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 85 5 8
BASIC 3 173 0 8
DIFFICULT 6 242 4 1
EXPERT 7 312 53 10
EXPERT NOTES: I <3 this song! Pretty cool steps, too. A bit harder than your
average seven-footer, with some fairly long and tricky streams and a penchant
for offbeat series of jumps to follow the offbeat vocals.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: DJ?Acucrack (it's misspelled in the game) is an electronica
side project from Jason Novak and Jamie Duffy, frontman and guitarist
respectively for the industrial rock group Acumen Nation. This song comes from
their fifth full-length album, "Killing Mobius," released in 2005.
-----------------------------------------------
5C. Beyond Here and Now (Intensified) - Neuropa
-----------------------------------------------
BPM: 136
Genre: Synthpop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 81 14 4
BASIC 3 118 8 13
DIFFICULT 5 221 13 24
EXPERT 7 282 37 31
EXPERT NOTES: Nothing too hard here. Lots of short- to mid-length streams with
minimal crossovers. They try a few tricky things with the freeze arrows,
including steps following the lyrics for one foot while holding a freeze with
the other toward the beginning.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Neuropa is a Sydney, Australia based synthpop duo consisting
of Jason Last and Albert Martinez, signed with Ultramix-favorite label A
Different Drum. According to their Myspace page, they sound like "Steve
Strange in a spa with Gary Numan"... yeah.
Miscellany: Neuropa have made previous contributions to the Ultramix series,
their other songs including "Standing Still In Time" in Ultramix 2, and "In My
Eyes (Neuromix)" in Song Pack 8 for that game.
-------------------------------------------------
5D. Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix) - Daybehavior
-------------------------------------------------
BPM: 138
Genre: Synthpop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 100 3 2
BASIC 3 139 8 3
DIFFICULT 5 244 17 19
EXPERT 8 340 19 20
EXPERT NOTES: Sort of an easy eight, methinks. The hardest parts are the
somewhat longish streams with crossovers. Other than the oddly timed steps
that follow the synthesizer hits in certain spots, that's about all it has
to offer.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Daybehavior, also from the "A Different Drum Label," was
created by Carl Hammar and Tommy Arell, and the group took off with the
addition of Paulinda Crescentini as vocalist in 1993. This song is off their
2003 album, Have You Ever Touched A Dream?
Miscellany: The original version of "Close Your Eyes" is featured in DDR
Ultramix 2, with much simpler steps than these. Another Daybehavior song has
made its way into DDR, "Superstar (Nevarakka Mix)," also from Ultramix 2.
--------------------------------------
5E. Dancefloor Killer - Richard Kayvan
--------------------------------------
BPM: 138
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 71 11 2
BASIC 3 119 4 1
DIFFICULT 5 190 30 18
EXPERT 8 296 22 34
EXPERT NOTES: After a few short streams with jumps, this song settles into
its signature awkward freezes-in-short-streams tricks. Then we meet its other
trick, a gallop into a double tap, and following a lengthy stream with
double-taps thrown in liberally, the gallop-taps and freezes combine for
a rather tricky finale.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Richard Kayvan is yet another artist from the world of
British electronica. His current projects include a collaboration with
Simon Patterson as one half of the duo, Dogzilla. And... I can't find
anything about this song.
--------------------------------
5F. GO! (Mahalo Mix) - DM Ashura
--------------------------------
BPM: 154
Genre: Oedo Techno (I dunno...)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 71 6 0
BASIC 4 179 4 18
DIFFICULT 7 268 14 2
EXPERT 9 465 28 9
DIFFICULT NOTES: Similar to TSUGARU in many ways, not only in style, but also
in difficulty, as you'll soon see on Expert. Here, it's not that hard; I'd
say it could've probably passed as a hard six, but I guess the unusually high
crossover count is what makes it a seven.
EXPERT NOTES: The similarities to Tsugaru continue, as there's even some
gallops thrown in here! But even more prevalent are three-note sixteenth
clusters – this song's packed with the damn things, especially toward the end
where things really start to get INTENSE! Then again, did we expect anything
nice and easy from DM Ashura? :P
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4
About The Artist: DM Ashura is William James Robert Shillito... quite a
mouthful. It's obvious why he doesn't go by that. He's created a crapload of
fan remixes of DDR songs (including a truly excessive amount of MAX mixes),
and now he's finally broken into the official DDR scene with this song, which
was one of the four winners of a music competition on www.broadjam.com to find
new material for the Ultramix series. The other three contest winners also
appear in this game, as well as Ultramix 4.
Miscellany: This is an unusual case here... a song appearing in DDR that's a
remix of a song from other dancing games. "GO!" can be found in O2Jam as well
as Flash Flash Revolution. Another DM Ashura remix, this time of a classic DDR
song, can be found in Ultramix 4: "Celebrate Nite (Like It's '99 Mix)"
-------------------------
5G. Grandolin - Zerofuser
-------------------------
BPM: 160
Genre: House
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 126 5 3
BASIC 3 155 4 24
DIFFICULT 5 246 38 17
EXPERT 8 337 11 13
ONI -- 420 30 32
EXPERT NOTES: Easy eight. There's two pretty tough streams toward the end with
crossovers and double-taps but the majority of the song is short three-note
streams and offbeat quarters.
ONI NOTES: And suddenly we go from an easy eight to what's probably a hard
nine, possibly even a ten! We start out only a little harder than before,
with longer streams and freezes during the offbeat part, but the true
difficulty comes when the violin kicks in. (Or maybe it's the titular
grandolin?) Suddenly, you're bombarded with fast and furious sixteenth
clusters which follow the complicated grandolin melody. What's worse, they
don't even merely alternate arrows like most sixteenth clusters but, in fact,
throw you all around the pad. Same deal when we switch to piano, except I'd
say the patterns are probably even harder!
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4
About The Artist: ZeroFuser (whose real name I can't seem to find) is an
electronica musician, also known as Zerin Clave or DJZ. Among his biggest
influences are Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda of Squaresoft fame. He's
the second lucky winner of that BroadJam contest.
------------------------------------------------------------
5H. Heart With a View (Echo Image Remix) - The Echoing Green
------------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 135
Genre: Synthpop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 77 6 0
BASIC 2 99 3 14
DIFFICULT 6 220 12 5
EXPERT 8 289 50 21
EXPERT NOTES: There's some odd patterns here, usually following the vocals or
synthesizer, which repeat over and over again. (Particularly the "three jumps
in a row" on the synth hits.) The song hints at gallops a few times with pairs
of sixteenths thrown in a few places but they don't come out in full force
until the end, where it's gallops galore! Particularly notable is the rare
gallop sequence where the second note of one pair isn't the first note of the
next... more like a weird gallop-stream hybrid.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: The Echoing Green is a synthpop duo currently consisting of
Joey Belville and Chrissy Jeter, formed in 1992, centered in lovely
Albuquerque, New Mexico. Echo Image is a Norwegian synthpop group whose
current members include Pal Magnus Rybom, Trine Bilet, and Lars Kristian Holt.
-----------------------------------------------
5I. Horsemen of the Invisible - Secret Chiefs 3
-----------------------------------------------
BPM: 00-172
Genre: Arabic
(There's one complete stop in this song about 38 seconds in.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 109 2 6
BASIC 3 145 10 4
DIFFICULT 6 239 28 32
EXPERT 8 407 14 45
EXPERT NOTES: As if you couldn't guess by the title, there's gallops here...
less than you'd think, though, and of the same nontraditional variety that I
mentioned in the write-up for Heart With A View. Nah, it's mostly about the
tricky streams here, though one particularly tricky sequence worth pointing
out involves lots of double-taps and freezes. One of the harder eights in the
game, IMO.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Secret Chiefs 3 is pretty confusing... seems like less a band
and more a group of musicians lead by Trey Spruance... but as it turns out,
Secret Chiefs 3 is actually a general name for seven different bands, each
representing a different aspect of that nutty Spruance's musical and
philosophical interests: The Electromagnetic Azoth, UR, Ishraqiyun,
Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, FORMS, and... an unnamed seventh band which may
not even exist. Yeah. Confusing! (Credit goes to Wikipedia for clarifying this
enough for me to confuse you with it...)
---------------------------
5J. HOT LIMIT - JOHN DESIRE
---------------------------
BPM: 156
Genre: J-Pop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 96 2 0
BASIC 5 201 5 11
DIFFICULT 6 280 6 7
EXPERT 8 372 30 9
ONI -- 411 53 6
EXPERT NOTES: There's quite a few steps here, but they're mostly in simple
streams, occasional crossovers and double-taps aside. A lot of these streams
here end with a pair of sixteenths, following the melody, so keep an eye out
for that.
ONI NOTES: I'd put this at about a nine. The streams are only mildly harder,
but it earns its difficulty with the addition of sixteenth clusters following
the music here, plus quite a few more jumps. As a whole, this chart flows with
the music a lot better, so if you've watched "We Drink Ritalin" enough, you'll
likely know the song well enough to get through it.
-----
Song Type: Dancemania License
Bemani Debut: DDR 5thMIX (as a Long Version)
About The Artist: John Desire is an Italian group who apparently works mostly
for Toshiba EMI's Dancemania album series. This is his most well-known song,
an English-language cover of the original Japanese version by TM Revolution.
Miscellany: This song was a "Long Version" in 5thMIX, running twice as long as
a standard DDR song. Here, it's edited down to a more standard length. ...and
yeah, this is the song featured in the classic "fanimutation," "We Drink
Ritalin."
--------------------------
5K. Indian Summer - Canton
--------------------------
BPM: 173
Genre: Drum and Bass
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 70 1 2
BASIC 3 128 6 9
DIFFICULT 6 235 43 20
EXPERT 8 342 40 26
EXPERT NOTES: A lot of short, but nonetheless tough, streams in the beginning,
leading into longer streams with freezes and double-taps. Later on they throw
in gallops for some inconceivable reason, plus a tiny sixteenth cluster, just
for fun. Note that you'll be stepping all the way through the fadeout, which
is sort of unusual but not all that tricky.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Canton is Canton Becker, who works in the sound design field
and specializes in instrumental club-rave stuff. This tune was apparently
released in 2001.
Miscellany: Another Canton song, "Tooryanse (tekno children mix)," can be found
in Ultramix 4.
-------------------------------------
5L. Less 'Yap Yap' - Temporary Lovers
-------------------------------------
BPM: 120
Genre: Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 83 5 5
BASIC 3 104 9 18
DIFFICULT 5 168 20 10
EXPERT 8 345 13 12
EXPERT NOTES: Crossovers aplenty here, though not too troublesome at this
speed, though they do tend to end with a sixteenth. This includes the
freeze arrows at the end; don't get to thinking they're eighths. They're
not. Gallop into them. There's also some small sixteenth clusters scattered
about. You'll quickly find that the steps, like the song, follow a predictable
pattern, though not exactly simple.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: I can't find a damn thing on these guys. Any help from
someone who's not as idiotic as me would be much appreciated!
---------------------------------------------------------------
5M. Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix) - Melody and Mezzo
---------------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 160
Genre: Speed Synth
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 129 4 0
BASIC 3 185 6 8
DIFFICULT 6 292 39 13
EXPERT 9 369 62 17
EXPERT NOTES: Universe sure seems to like its tough licenses, doesn't it? This
one features several long, crossover-packed streams and, even worse, some
medium-length streams where pretty much every other step is a jump. Ouch.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Melody & Mezzo are a speedy synth/dance pop duo who released
Nightshade, their best-known song so far, in 2006. Disko Warp is apparently
a tiny record label, centered in Beaverton, Oregon.
Miscellany: This song is based on Johannes Brahms's "Hungarian Dance No. 5,"
likely his most well-known composition. (Thanks to Starrodkirby86!)
-------------------------------------
5N. Race Against Time - Jeff Steinman
-------------------------------------
BPM: 160
Genre: Big Band
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 85 5 2
BASIC 3 153 3 10
DIFFICULT 6 248 15 14
EXPERT 8 382 28 19
EXPERT NOTES: A chart that doesn't seem energetic enough for the song in most
places, with mostly simple streams ranging from quite small to pretty large.
Things do get tricky when the sixteenth clusters come into play, especially
the one that closes out the song with a crossover.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4
About The Artist: Jeff Steinman entered UCLA as a serious trumpeter and
drummer with a music major, before he switched over to the infinitely more
exciting world of physics. Graduating with a PhD in high energy physics, he
returned to his first love of music in 1990. An accomplished composer/arranger
with a habit of applying his brass and percussion backgrounds to big band
music, he's the third lucky winner of the aforementioned BroadJam contest.
----------------------
5O. SKY HIGH - DJ MIKO
----------------------
BPM: 136
Genre: Dance Pop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 57 1 0
BASIC 2 113 10 0
DIFFICULT 4 128 6 0
EXPERT 6 244 1 0
EXPERT NOTES: This was rated a 7 on JP EXTREME and I'm not so sure it deserved
the downgrade, simply because of the gallops. The gallops make this harder
than the average 6. Other than that, it's standard six-footer stuff.
-----
Song Type: Dancemania License
Bemani Debut: DDR Solo 2000 (JP Arcade)
About The Artist: DJ Miko is an Italian DJ, seemingly mostly known for doing
cover versions of well-known songs, some of which have made it over to the
Dancemania series and, subsequently, DDR.
Miscellany: This is a cover of the original Sky High, released in 1974 by the
British pop group Jigsaw.
------------------------------
5P. Summer Fantasy - Alien Six
------------------------------
BPM: 132
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 87 5 4
BASIC 2 90 2 16
DIFFICULT 5 237 14 6
EXPERT 7 298 21 42
EXPERT NOTES: Mostly short streams with simple crossovers, the main difficulty
comes from a brief section involving gallops and a five-note sixteenth cluster
and some later streams involving double-taps ending in jumps.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Alien Six is an electronic music writing and production firm
consisting of Geoff Pinckney, Pete Steer, and Laura Cyganik.
-------------------------------------
5Q. Test Room - Plus-Tech Squeeze Box
-------------------------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Picopop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 74 5 1
BASIC 3 110 5 5
DIFFICULT 5 224 23 14
EXPERT 7 316 28 14
EXPERT NOTES: A mostly simple chart, with mostly simple streams, that
occasionally shows hints of the song's quirkiness with the addition of
some sixteenth clusters and offbeat streams. They could've done so much
more with this one, though...
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: The oddly named Plus-Tech Squeeze Box are a Japanese
electronica group, specifically working in the subgenre of "picopop,"
characterized by the prominent use of electronic instuments and effects in
a fun, frantic, pop-ish style.
----------------------
5R. The Hop - OR-IF-IS
----------------------
BPM: 132
Genre: Ambient Techno
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 73 5 6
BASIC 3 127 19 6
DIFFICULT 5 197 23 12
EXPERT 7 270 32 12
EXPERT NOTES: The streams here are surprisingly simplistic, with the main
difficulty coming from a few weird tricks with sixteenths generally following
the music, but nothing all that challenging, honestly.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Or-If-Is is Dave L, a sound producer originally from Los
Angeles. In the world of video games, he's worked on some past LucasArts
projects as the sound supervisor, as well as contributing quite a few songs
to the Ultramix series.
-------------------------------
5S. There's A Rhythm - Dig Bear
-------------------------------
BPM: 115
Genre: R&B
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 78 0 0
BASIC 3 120 1 14
DIFFICULT 4 135 2 13
EXPERT 6 235 17 6
EXPERT NOTES: The hardest that it gets here is during somewhat lengthy
streams with lots of double-taps, but the song is slow enough that even those
don't pose much of a challenge!
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4
About The Artist: Dig Bear is Urs Lotze, whose unique guitar-driven R&B/funk/
hip-hop/dance pop style is, well... unique. He's the fourth and final lucky
winner of that aforementioned BroadJam contest. Looking at this stepchart
compared to the great charts the other winners got... I'd say Dig Bear totally
got shafted here!
----------------------------------------------------
5T. We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix) - Jondi & Spesh
----------------------------------------------------
BPM: 140
Genre: Techno
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 92 1 4
BASIC 2 109 1 4
DIFFICULT 5 274 11 2
EXPERT 8 380 2 11
EXPERT NOTES: One heck of a hard eight, with chaos aplenty! Sixteenths abound,
whether just a pair thrown into a stream to follow the techno beats, tricky
gallops, or even a confusing mix of the two. There's also a few clusters
ending in freezes, but compared to the rest of the song they're hardly worth
mentioning.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Jondi & Spesh are a San Francisco-based DJ duo consisting of
J.D. Moyer (Jondi) and Stephen Kay (Spesh). They are the founders of their own
record label, Looq Records, and have become rather prolific contributors to
the Ultramix series.
-----------------------
5U. Wraith - Monolithic
-----------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Synth-Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 79 6 0
BASIC 3 117 1 4
DIFFICULT 6 211 13 10
EXPERT 7 300 29 30
EXPERT NOTES: Harder than the average seven-footer. For one thing, it likes to
try tricks with freeze arrows from time to time, leading into them with a
crossover to leave you stuck in an awkward position. The rest of the song is
mostly either longish streams full of double-taps or short streams with jumps
in the middle.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Monolithic is a band founded by Midihead, who has himself
made quite a few contributions to the Ultramix series including remixes of
"Colors" and "Jelly Kiss." Monolithic, being on the "A Different Drum" label,
is generally categorized as a synthpop group, but is unique with the infusion
of other genres such as breakbeat, industrial, techno, etc.
------------------------------------------
5V. WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX) - JENNY ROM
------------------------------------------
BPM: 170
Genre: Europop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 87 16 0
BASIC 1 89 1 1
DIFFICULT 4 148 23 8
EXPERT 7 238 46 10
EXPERT NOTES: The majority of the streams here are simple enough, even the ones
that start offbeat. What makes this a seven-footer are a couple tricky
crossovers, a few double- and triple- taps thrown into streams, and some
streams that end with jumps. All that combines with the fairly brisk pace to
make this one trickier than it seems at first... though it's not too bad.
-----
Song Type: Dancemania License
Bemani Debut: DDRMAX: DDR 6th MIX (JP Arcade)
About The Artist: Jenny Rom is the most well-known alias of Giovanna, an
Italian bubblegum Europop singer who has been featured heavily in the
Dancemania series. Momo is apparently Akira Kanazawa.
--------------------------------
5W. Youngmen Blues - Round Table
--------------------------------
BPM: 113
Genre: Blues
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 51 8 0
BASIC 2 58 8 1
DIFFICULT 5 171 28 6
EXPERT 7 252 33 25
EXPERT NOTES: Sort of a weird chart, following the song's bluesy rhythms. It's a
rather hard seven, with all the offbeat steps and some decent-sized sixteenth
clusters. Things get particularly chaotic when you're stepping the organ hits,
which have the occasional triplet thrown in, in addition to the sixteenths.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Round Table is a J-Pop band well-known for their anime
soundtracks, formed in 1997 by Katsutoshi Kitagawa and Rieko Ito. This song
seems to come from their 2003 album, "Big Wave Sunset"... if I'm interpreting
the Japanese version of Wikipedia correctly, anyway.
+-----------------------+
|6. NEW KONAMI ORIGINALS|
+-----------------------+
Of course, as much as the big-name licenses help to sell DDR, the Konami
Originals are really the heart of the game... I know, it's cheesy, but it's
true. Technically, not everything here is new – "Cosmic Hammer," for example,
already appeared in Ultramix 4. Six of these songs ("Bongo!," "Healing Vision
(GRIDLOK Mix)," "Koibito," "Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix)," "Return of the Toe
Jam," and "Treble, Bass, and Attitude") are hidden by default and must be
unlocked in the horrific Quest Mode...
-------------------------------------
6A. Bongo! - WaveGroup feat. Scott D.
-------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the Western Regional Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 00-118
Genre: Big Beat (?)
(There's a pause about 50 seconds in, as Scott muses, "Well, everybody's TRYING
to do it...")
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 83 4 2
BASIC 3 92 9 6
DIFFICULT 5 219 14 10
EXPERT 7 298 39 5
EXPERT NOTES: The streams are mostly simple, though there are a few somewhat
tricky crossovers thrown in later. There's some sixteenth clusterage and many
streams start with a pair of sixteenths, but it's really not that hard... and,
for that matter, really not weird enough to match up with this crazy song.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: The WaveGroup sound crew, which previously did the sound for
Konami's Karaoke Revolution series, is now apparently contributing original
material to DDR. Scott D. is Scott Dolph, who has worked on the translations
of multiple Konami games into English, occasionally venturing into the Bemani
world to provide vocals, as he's a decent (if a little too lispy) rapper.
------------------------------------------------------------
6B. Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix) - WaveGroup feat. Nicky G.
------------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 127
Genre: Jazz
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 83 4 7
BASIC 4 146 8 30
DIFFICULT 6 243 23 24
EXPERT 9 348 16 24
EXPERT NOTES: A pretty easy nine-footer, possibly even a hard eight. You're
following the rhythm here with sixteenth clusters and gallops, and there's
even a triplet run thrown in for the hell of it. You do get a chance to rest
for a few measures about two-thirds of the way through.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Scroll on up to "Bongo" for my write-up on WaveGroup. Nicky G
is... to be honest, I have no idea.
Miscellany: Yeah, they went and jazzed up some Castlevania tunage. I don't know
nearly enough about that series to be of any use... so, to directly quote an
email I recieved from Starrodkirby86:
"Secondly, the song "Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix)" is based off the
Castlevania secondary main theme "Vampire Killer", which is Simon Belmont's
main theme. The beginning of it sounds like the Battle Arena of Castlevania:
Aria of Sorrow, but I haven't played that game in a while, so you can't
assure me of that. However, if it is based off that song, then that means it
based off the Aria of Sorrow version of "Heart of Fire" by a little, which is
"J's" theme in that same game."
...thanks. I figured I'd screw that up if I tried to summarize it, so there it
is in its entirety!
---------------------------------
6C. Cosmic Hammer - Jondi & Spesh
---------------------------------
BPM: 145
Genre: Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 86 0 8
BASIC 3 126 27 33
DIFFICULT 5 242 8 11
EXPERT 7 299 44 0
EXPERT NOTES: A trippy song populated mostly by simple streams, some with
jumps, and a few offbeat steps. It could honestly pass for a six if not for
one or two tricky streams in the middle with crossovers.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4
About The Artist: Check out "We Are Connected" for info on Jondi & Spesh.
------------------------------------------
6D. Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix) - DE-SIRE
------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Ontario in Quest Mode
BPM: 196
Genre: Drum and Bass
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 85 3 0
BASIC 3 142 3 11
DIFFICULT 6 229 24 28
EXPERT 8 367 40 15
EXPERT NOTES: The Healing Vision is one known for its difficulty, but this is
likely the easiest version thus far. Sure, it's not exactly easy with some
truly tough streams and some wacky jumping rhythms later on, but it doesn't
quite match the original, and it doesn't nearly approach the intensity of
"Angelic Mix."
-----
Song Type: Konami Original Remix
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: DE-SIRE is an alias of Naoki Maeda, used exclusively for the
Healing Vision and Trip Machine series. Gridlok is Ryan Powell, an American
drum and bass producer and DJ, originally trained as a classical violinist but
tantalized by the seemingly limitless posibilities of electronic music.
Miscellany: The original "Healing Vision" can be found on DDR Konamix, DDRMAX,
and DDR Ultramix over here in the States. Those looking for a little more
can also find the "Angelic Mix" in the latter two games I mentioned. And I'm
not sure if it's related to this series or not, but "Healing-D-Vision" is in
DDR SuperNOVA, both at home and in arcades.
--------------------------
6E. Hydrasound - GEOMANCER
--------------------------
BPM: 144
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 82 2 5
BASIC 3 112 3 8
DIFFICULT 6 246 11 3
EXPERT 8 306 20 5
EXPERT NOTES: Another song closely following the music, with sixteenth
clusters and gallops and whatnot. (I'm starting to realize how similar these
Universe charts really are.) Also, some crossovers and jumps in streams, blah
blah blah. Watch out, it ends with a nine-note sixteenth cluster that makes
you step all over the pad!
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: No clue. I can't find ANYTHING on these guys.
------------------------------
6F. Ignition - Audio Magnetics
------------------------------
BPM: 145
Genre: House
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 72 4 3
BASIC 3 105 8 5
DIFFICULT 4 188 2 2
EXPERT 7 259 14 17
EXPERT NOTES: A pretty standard seven-footer. The only really noteworthy things
here are the freeze-happy opening and the abundance of double-taps (and the
occasional "quad-tap") through most of the song.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Audio Magnetics is a House/Breakbeats duo consisting of Barry
Jamieson and Bill Hamel. That's all I can really find on them.
-------------------------------------
6G. Koibito - Togo Project feat. Sana
-------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Texas in Quest Mode
BPM: 00-150
(This song pauses twice, at about 1:20 and 1:29)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 75 1 2
BASIC 3 122 6 6
DIFFICULT 5 186 11 10
EXPERT 6 258 21 22
ONI -- 320 33 42
EXPERT NOTES: More crossovers than you'd expect from a six-footer, at a decent
pace, in short-to-medium-length streams. Double-taps, too. Nothing terribly
hard, though, once you memorize where exactly the stops are.
ONI NOTES: I'd say this is about an eight footer. The song retains its love of
crossovers while throwing in lots of sixteenths. The steps follow the song, so
it's almost like stepping an easy IIDX notechart...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Togo Project is Hiroyuki Togo, a guitarist and composer who
seems to mostly work in beatmania/IIDX, but apparently produced this song
especially for Universe. Cool. Sana is Sanae Shintani, the vocalist here and a
frequent Togo collaborator.
Miscellany: AWWWWWW LOOKIT THE CUTE LI'L KITTY CAT!!!!!
--------------------------------------
6H. Loops - Jondi & Spesh feat. J-Bone
--------------------------------------
BPM: 200
Genre: Techno
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 82 6 3
BASIC 3 125 5 3
DIFFICULT 6 253 31 24
EXPERT 8 390 17 0
EXPERT NOTES: Like most fast non-boss songs, it starts out mostly in quarters
and simple streams, though streams become more prevalent as the song goes on.
And surprisingly long for such a fast song, too. But the step patterns
themselves are easy enough that it's not too taxing.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: See "We Are Connected" for info on Jondi & Spesh. I'm not
sure who J-Bone is. Sounds very rapper-ish.
--------------------------------------------------
6I. Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix) - Akira Yamaoka
--------------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in New York in Quest Mode
BPM: 167
Genre: New Wave
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 88 2 0
BASIC 4 161 11 12
DIFFICULT 6 248 42 26
EXPERT 9 438 50 14
EXPERT NOTES: One helluva nine-footer. I think it goes without saying that
there's crossovers here, so instead I'll just note this song's two major
tricks: jumps directly into streams, and gallop-type things with only ONE
sixteenth note of dead space between each pair of sixteenths as opposed to
the usual two, both of which are pretty tough at these speeds. Especially
the latter. There's also a nine-step sixteenth cluster right before the
end... which is also painful at these speeds.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original Remix
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 3 (Song Pack 26)
About The Artist: Akira Yamaoka is perhaps best known as the producer and sound
director for the Silent Hill series, but he's also made ample contributions to
the DDR and IIDX series. I assume The Acolyte is Aussie happy hardcore
producer Sam Gonzalez.
Miscellany: This song was the only song in UM3's SP26, which was available for
free download during the 2005 holiday season. Nope, you can't download it now.
Good thing they put it on another game then, huh? Interestingly, the original
"Love Me Do" has yet to appear on any DDR game. This song's Doubles Expert
steps are the only chart in the game to be officially rated a ten-footer.
-----------------------------------------------------
6J. PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix) - UZI-LAY
-----------------------------------------------------
BPM: 128
Genre: Jazz Funk
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 74 4 0
BASIC 3 132 1 4
DIFFICULT 5 194 11 12
EXPERT 7 269 8 0
EXPERT NOTES: The toughest PYFIM yet (at least until Naoki gets around to doing
"PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME survivor MAX"...), not that that's saying much. It's
standard seven-footer stuff, with slow short-to-medium length streams with
crossovers and a rouge sixteenth cluster thrown in for some reason.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original Remix
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: UZI-LAY is another Naoki pseudonym, exclusively used for the
PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME series. Steve Porter is a DJ and producer whose website
claims: "The next generation of electronic music producers is gaining hold and
leading the charge is DJ/production phenom STEVE PORTER." Um... good for him?
Miscellany: The original mix of this song can be found on the original US
release of DDR, as well as DDRMAX2. The "JAZZY GROOVE" mix is currently an
exclusive to the original PS DDR. The "Saturday Night Mix" is in DDR Ultramix
and the home version of SuperNOVA.
------------------------------------
6K. Return of the Toe Jam - Big Idea
------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the Southern Regional Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 110-160
Genre: Country Techno
(This one opens at 160 BPM before slowing down to 110 about twenty seconds in.
Thirty seconds later, we're back up to 160.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 78 8 0
BASIC 3 99 16 10
DIFFICULT 6 232 20 5
EXPERT 8 330 14 7
ONI -- 552 30 37
EXPERT NOTES: This one starts out pretty simplistic, with short streams.
There's a sixteenth cluster during the slowdown, when we're at 110 BPM and
sixteenths aren't all that tricky. But when we speed up, this song kicks into
high gear, hitting you with medium-to-long-streams with crossovers and, since
it's a country song, gallops.
ONI NOTES: Ten-footer, for sure. From the start things are tough, with jumps
in streams and gallops out in full force. During the slowdown it's an awful
mess of eighths and triplets following the banjo. But, when we speed back up,
things get REALLY intense. Truly insane sixteenth clusters throwing you all
over the pad, even with crossovers, following the fiddle. It's a bloody mess.
Also, note that unlike every other stapchart for this song, you'll be
stepping the cute fiddle finale with this. It's a lot simpler than anything
else here but it's noteworthy anyway.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Big Idea is a Utah-based production studio founded by Chuck
E. Meyers. They've worked on many different gaming projects in years past, and
have contributed quite a few songs in a diverse variety of styles to the
Xbox DDR scene.
Miscellany: This is the "sequel" to the original "TOE JAM," which was an
unlockable tune on DDR Ultramix 2.
--------------------------
6L. roughneck - skylab2000
--------------------------
BPM: 143
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 99 4 0
BASIC 3 146 7 3
DIFFICULT 6 243 32 7
EXPERT 8 357 36 9
EXPERT NOTES: The song starts out on par with most of Universe's sevens, with
short-to-medium length streamage and a few sixteenth clusters, but things
intensify as this repetitive tune wears on, with streams lengthening and the
addition of gallops.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: skylab2000 is Dennis Barton, electronic music producer
born in Queens, New York but currently based in Los Angeles.
-------------------------------------------
6M. Treble, Bass and Attitude - The Acolyte
-------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Illinois in Quest Mode
BPM: 172
Genre: Happy Hardcore
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 60 7 5
BASIC 3 128 6 18
DIFFICULT 6 235 15 9
EXPERT 8 324 39 3
ONI -- 410 24 7
EXPERT NOTES: Streams that tend to end in jumps are the order of the day here,
with a few crossovers and sixteenths as lovely garnish. They don't to anything
too tricky with these elements, but bear in mind that it's a somewhat fast
song...
ONI NOTES: A solid nine-footer, I'd say. It's harder than the Expert steps in
every way, with longer, more technical streams, much more plentiful sixteenth
clusters which are thrown at you on right after the other, and even some
gallops.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: See "Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix)" for my theory on who
The Acolyte is.
-----------------------------------
6N. Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix) - RevenG
-----------------------------------
BPM: 170
Genre: Oedo Techno
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 80 10 1
BASIC 4 162 8 0
DIFFICULT 6 248 39 21
EXPERT 9 434 33 4
ONI -- 490 92 22
EXPERT NOTES: If you've played either of the other Tsugarus you should do just
fine here. There's some tough streams with jumps thrown in (especially the last
one which plays like something out of MAKE IT BETTER but a lot faster), and of
course the Tsugaru tsignature, gallops... except they're not real sixteenth
gallops. Instead you get to experience "triplet gallops," which play pretty
much like normal gallops anyway...
ONI NOTES: Possibly a ten-footer. The opening stream is longer and has some
sixteenth clusters thrown in for good measure. Gallops are completely
eliminated, and in their place is a crapload of air. Yeah, over 90 jumps in
this song, many of them thrown into streams. Ouch. (That final stream that had
a lot of jumps on Expert is ALL JUMPS now, by the way). And there's plenty of
sixteenth clusters in here, too. And they've got no trouble throwing sixteenths
and jumps side-by-side, alternating, for true pain!
-----
Song Type: Konami Original Remix
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: RevenG (originally RE-VENGE) is another Naoki pseudonym, used
on his "ethnic" songs featuring styles from around the world. See "The Hop"
for info on OR-IF-IS.
Miscellany: The original "TSUGARU" can be found on DDRMAX2, DDR Extreme, and DDR
Ultramix, and the "Apple Mix" is on Extreme. Those two songs were actually by
"RevenG vs. DE-SIRE," which is nonsensical because they're both Naoki. I dunno
why they only credit one of those pseudonyms here.
---------------------------------
6O. What Have Her - Chris Fortier
---------------------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: House
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 72 5 0
BASIC 2 81 5 10
DIFFICULT 5 190 9 15
EXPERT 9 339 16 0
EXPERT NOTES: Easy nine. Sure, you've got streams with crossovers leading into
jumps and some weird sixteenth tricks... but it's slow enough that it's not
as hard as you'd think. Almost a hard eight, but not quite.
-----
Song Type: Conscripted Song
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Chris Fortier is a central figure in the development of
electronic dance music in the United States as both an accomplished DJ and
founder of the Balance Record Pool. He originally hails from Melbourne,
Florida, which is interesting because I wasn't aware there WAS a Melbourne,
Florida.
+-----------------------+
|7. OLD KONAMI ORIGINALS|
+-----------------------+
This group consists entirely of returning KO's making their triumphant...
returns. Nine of these songs ("Cachaca," "Drivin'," "MAXIMIZER," "My Only
Shining Star," "PARANOIA EVOLUTION," "Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production),"
"think ya better D," "Tir na n'Og," and "Xenon") are hidden by default and must
be unlocked... again, through the absolutely atrocious Quest Mode...
--------------------------------
7A. B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) - NAOKI
--------------------------------
BPM: 170
Genre: Speed Rave
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 65 3 3
BASIC 4 162 20 10
DIFFICULT 6 226 2 4
EXPERT 8 331 19 13
ONI -- 243 12 8
EXPERT NOTES: The original "B4U" was an easy eight-footer. This isn't. There's
some fairly long streamage, some of which is offbeat in the last half of the
song, and sixteenths, sometimes in clusters but often scattered in pairs
in the middle of streams to match the speedy melody.
ONI NOTES: Easier than the Expert chart; officially, this is a seven-footer.
Simple streams and offbeat quarters make up the majority here. The only
challenging part here, which honestly doesn't even fit in with the tone of
the rest of this chart, is four sixteenths in a CROSSOVER. Yeah...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Dancing Stage EuroMIX 2 (EU Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR Extreme
About The Artist: Naoki Maeda is the sound director for the DDR series, having
made literal metric tons of songs for the series, often under a pseudonym. He
used to be known for working in many different styles, but most of his new
stuff is Eurobeat. B4 ZA BEAT is Shusaku Ichikawa and Muhehira Ohtomo.
Miscellany: In EuroMIX 2 this song had the full standard set of difficulties,
but was turned into one of those "Challenge Remixes" in DDRMAX2. Here, we get
the best of worlds, with the original normal charts as well as the challenge
chart. The original "B4U" can be found in DDR Konamix, DDR Extreme US, and DDR
Ultramix 2. A new "The Acolyte Mix" recently popped up in DDR Hottest Party.
---------------------------------
7B. BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS - SPARKER
---------------------------------
BPM: 00-150
Genre: Rococo Tek
(This song features two stops around the 1:35 mark.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 94 0 0
BASIC 3 145 0 13
DIFFICULT 6 254 23 59
EXPERT 9 432 59 39
EXPERT NOTES: Awesome song, awesome stepchart. You've got your long streams
filled with crossovers, your shorter streams filled with jumps, "triplet
gallops," sixteenth clusters, and even some sixteenth double-taps! All in
all, a good mid-range nine.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania IIDX 9th Style
DDR Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: SPARKER is Takehiko Fujii, more commonly known by the
pseudonym SLAKE, who works mostly in the beatmania series.
--------------------------------
7C. Cachaca - Mokky de Yah Yah's
--------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Washington in Quest Mode
BPM: 128
Genre: Latin
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 53 1 11
BASIC 2 87 2 10
DIFFICULT 5 171 31 4
EXPERT 7 249 33 22
EXPERT NOTES: One helluva tricky seven. There's plenty of crossovers to keep
you on your toes, plus offbeat steps, freeze notes, and quite a few triplets
from the middle on. Everything follows the song, but sometimes it's the
background melody instead of the more obvious guitar in the foreground, so
pay attention.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Guitar Freaks 8th Mix/DrumMania 7th Mix
DDR Debut: DDR SuperNOVA (Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR SuperNOVA 2 (PS2)
About The Artist: This one was composed by Yoshihiko Koezuka, a longtime
contributor to the GF/DM series.
------------------------------------
7D. DIAMOND JEALOUSY - AKIRA YAMAOKA
------------------------------------
BPM: 190
Genre: Cyber Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 80 2 0
BASIC 4 236 49 29
DIFFICULT 5 245 77 41
EXPERT 8 327 62 59
EXPERT NOTES: Exhausting. This one just doesn't let up. Crossovers, some
fairly lengthy streams, tons of jumps and freezes, all at a rather brisk
pace. Be careful not to get NGs by lifting your foot from freezes too
early to hit other notes – this song likes to tempt you into that, so be
sure to keep your wits about you!
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania IIDX 4th Style
DDR Debut: DDR Ultramix 2 (Song Pack 11)
About The Artist: See "Love Me Do" for info on Akira Yamaoka.
-------------------------------------
7E. Drivin' - NAOKI feat. Paula Terry
-------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Florida in Quest Mode
BPM: 155
Genre: Hyper Eurobeat
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 68 2 7
BASIC 4 126 5 11
DIFFICULT 5 223 15 32
EXPERT 8 394 55 16
EXPERT NOTES: This was rated a nine in SuperNOVA... there's no way in hell this
could pass as an eight! Not with these long streams, some of which have jumps
liberally sprinkled in, as well as some gallops and tiny sixteenth clusters.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania IIDX 8th Style
DDR Debut: DDR SuperNOVA (Arcade)
About The Artist: See "B4U" for info on Naoki Maeda. Paula Terry is an Aussie
singer currently residing in Japan, frequently used for female vocals on
Naoki's songs.
-----------------------------------
7F. Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix) - JT.1UP
-----------------------------------
BPM: 130-170
Genre: Arcade Remix
(The song starts out at 130. By around 20 seconds in, we start gradually
speeding up to 170... and when we reach there, we slow right back down to
130 for a second before jumping to 150 for the rest of the song.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 81 2 2
BASIC 3 141 4 11
DIFFICULT 6 163 32 31
EXPERT 8 217 42 24
EXPERT NOTES: This chart likes to follow the song, which does lead to some
odd rhythms (and more than a couple sixteenth clusters). The hardest part is
the fairly massive stream, with crossovers aplenty, right after it speeds up
to 150.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 2
About The Artist: JT.1UP apparently works for Konami of Hawaii. That's all I've
got.
Miscellany: This is a remix of the Gyruss (classic Konami arcade shooter) theme
song which was, in turn, based on Bach's "Tocatta and Fugue in D minor."
---------------------------------------------
7G. INFINITE PRAYER - L.E.D. LIGHT feat. GORO
---------------------------------------------
BPM: 137
Genre: Oceanian Tribal Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 96 2 0
BASIC 3 146 3 5
DIFFICULT 6 201 15 36
EXPERT 7 450 29 18
EXPERT NOTES: THIS IS NOT A SEVEN-FOOTER! These are nine-footer steps! With
that out of the way, there's two enormous streams here, one at the beginning,
and one a little halfway with freezes thrown in. When you're not stepping
those, you'll be faced with a mixture of short streams and gallops.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania Append GOTTAMIX 2 (JP PS1)
DDR Debut: DDR Ultramix
American Appearances: DDR Extreme 2
About The Artist: L.E.D. is Toshiyuki Kakuta, a prolific contributor to the
Bemani series, particularly beatmania. Goro is... uh... no idea.
Miscellany: These Expert steps are actually from Japan's DDR STRIKE, but
they're given the same rating as the much simpler Ultramix steps >_<
---------------------------------
7H. INSERTiON - NAOKI underground
---------------------------------
BPM: 00-225
Genre: Euro Trance
(The song starts at 139.5 BPM, Starrodkirby86 tells me, and I have no reason
to doubt that. Half a minute or so in, there's a stop, and after things start
up again, we're moving at only 110. You'll be back up to normal soon enough,
but be aware, as the end holds another tempo change, this time gradually
speeding up to a blistering 225 BPM!)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 104 7 0
BASIC 4 187 7 0
DIFFICULT 6 263 14 0
EXPERT 9 374 1 0
EXPERT NOTES: Right from the beginning, you're faced with sixteenth clusters
and gallops, and they'll be sticking around through most of this song. You do
get a couple breaks from this madness – first, the stop and the slowed down
part after that (though it's sort of hard to find your rhythm there... no real
beat to speak in the slowness), after which it's back to even harder gallops,
until the speedup, your second "break." I know, it seems weird, but when
things start speeding up, it's ridiculously simple compared to the rest of the
song!
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR 5th Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX
About The Artist: NAOKI underground is, obviously, a Naoki alias, used
primarily for some of his harder trance songs.
--------------------------------------------------
7I. KAGEROW (Dragonfly) - Des-ROW UNITED special+r
--------------------------------------------------
BPM: 164
Genre: Rinsei
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 118 2 0
BASIC 4 157 3 4
DIFFICULT 5 233 30 4
EXPERT 7 290 12 5
EXPERT NOTES: This song desperately needs a Challenge chart. With all the
complex rhythms here, it's sort of disappointing to see it stuck with this,
a really easy chart, with really short streams, that should've probably been a
six-footer.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: pop'n music 11
DDR Debut: DDR SuperNOVA (Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR SuperNOVA (PS2)
About The Artist: Des-ROW is Osamu Migitera, a contributor to multiple Bemani
series but mainly pop'n music. His style tends to focus on rock/metal.
--------------------------
7J. MAXIMIZER - CLI-MAX S.
--------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the first National Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 00-198
Genre: Happy Hardcore
(There's three stops here: at around 6, 27, and 47 seconds.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 148 13 0
BASIC 5 201 9 31
DIFFICULT 7 264 15 18
EXPERT 8 360 24 12
ONI -- 528 62 20
DIFFICULT NOTES: A pretty standard boss song Difficult chart, mostly in
quarters with a few short streams. There's a few parts where it goes offbeat,
around the middle then again toward the end.
EXPERT NOTES: Not exactly an easy stepchart, with some tricky streams
with crossovers including a pretty long one right at the end, as well as
some sixteenth clusterage, and a few parts that go offbeat. On the other
hand, it's not nearly enough to justify its appearance as a "red song" in
DDR EXTREME US...
ONI NOTES: Finally, MAXIMIZER earns true boss song status! Say hello to the
hardest stepchart in DDR Universe! Things start off on a sour note when the
song stops IN THE MIDDLE OF A SIXTEENTH CLUSTER. Very hard to get back on
track after that. There's lots of stuff to trip you up here, including tons
of tricky crossovers, a crapload of sixteenth clusters, some "offbeat
triplets," and even some streams loaded up with air. Ouchie...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR Extreme US
About The Artist: CLI-MAX S. is a goofy pseudonym for Sota Fujimori, who
has contributed many popular tunes to DDR, including "Look To The Sky"
and "Electrified," among others.
Miscellany: MAXIMIXER had a special pseudo-Oni stepchart hidden away in
Extreme's Mission Mode, but these Oni steps are completely different,
completely new, and quite a bit harder too.
----------------------------------------------------
7K. My Only Shining Star - NAOKI feat. Becky Lucinda
----------------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the Eastern Regional Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 155
Genre: Euro Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 75 7 0
BASIC 3 83 8 0
DIFFICULT 5 150 11 4
EXPERT 6 261 8 0
EXPERT NOTES: For as overly pimped-out as this song is, you'd think they could
at least give it interesting steps... but apparently not! We open with some
triple-taps before going into short steams with simple crossovers. Lots of
off-beat quarters in the middle. Just keep an eye out for the four sixteenth
notes thrown in toward the end! That can be a pretty nasty surprise...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR SuperNOVA (Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR SuperNOVA (PS2)
About The Artist: See "B4U" for info on Naoki. Becky Lucinda is the female
vocalist here, and Scott Dolph is the announcer dude who apparently can't
spell "dance" right...
----------------------------
7L. PARANOIA EVOLUTION - 200
----------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the second National Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 200
Genre: Jungle
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 144 2 0
BASIC 6 278 31 0
DIFFICULT 7 287 59 0
EXPERT 8 375 44 0
DIFFICULT NOTES: A fairly standard PARANOiA difficult chart. Mostly quarters,
some offbeat steps, short streams that are mostly simple. The one hard thing
about it is all the jumps... it's almost as if Konami of Hawaii made this
chart! :P
EXPERT NOTES: Fairly typical of the early PARANOiAs, lots of streams and turns
plus some air just to make it more tiring. Most of the streams are short,
except the last one, which is 29 notes long, lengthy given the speed here.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR Solo Bass Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX
About The Artist: 200 is a Naoki pseudonym, in reference to the song's BPM,
like he always does with PARANOiAs.
Miscellany: No, I haven't the foggiest idea why they left out the signature
lowercase I in the song title.
---------------------------------------
7M. rain of sorrow - NM feat. EBONY FAY
---------------------------------------
BPM: 140
Genre: Euro Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 72 6 0
BASIC 2 77 6 18
DIFFICULT 5 210 4 63
EXPERT 9 315 28 5
EXPERT NOTES: Hmmmm, this seems easier than I remember. Maybe it's just because
I've memorized the rhythms that this one likes to follow. This one likes to go
along with all sorts of goofy rhythms, changing things up whenever you might
actually think you've found the pattern to this crazy thing. You get a rest in
the middle where you're stepping the piano, but the hardest part is toward the
end, with lots of sixteenths starting with the "Got to keep the love a lot"
part. Just play this thing over and over until you figure it out, it's
actually relatively easy once you've grasped its rhythmic trickery.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDRMAX2: DDR 7th Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX2
About The Artist: NM is, of course, short for Naoki Maeda. Ebony Fay is singer
who performs on several DDR tunes, including this and "Do It Right."
-------------------
7N. Senses - JT.1UP
-------------------
BPM: 120
Genre: Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 65 1 2
BASIC 3 125 1 0
DIFFICULT 4 151 13 20
EXPERT 6 200 25 14
EXPERT NOTES: Easy, even for a six footer. Lots of little three-note mini-
streams throughout, all of them extremely easy. The only parts that are even
remotely tough are the string of six consecutive quarter jumps about two-
thirds of the way through, and the nine-note stream that closes out the chart,
and even those are nice and simple. Definitely should've been a five, IMO.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR Universe 4
About The Artist: See "Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix)" for what little info I have on
this guy.
--------------------------------
7O. SOMETHING WONDERFUL - L.E.D.
--------------------------------
BPM: 150
Genre: Epic Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 117 8 0
BASIC 3 195 14 91
DIFFICULT 5 276 6 103
EXPERT 7 422 5 49
EXPERT NOTES: Something gives me a feeling these aren't really seven-footer
steps. If they are, they're damn hard seven footer steps! There's some
pretty long streams in this one, quite a few oddly placed freezes,
sixteenths leading into freezes which is always a pain in the ass, and of
course the fact that it almost follows the melody without following it
EXACTLY. Annoying as hell. Too bad, it's a great song...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania IIDX 5th Style (JP PS2)
DDR Debut: DDR Ultramix (Song Pack 2)
About The Artist: See "INFINITE PRAYER" for what I've got on L.E.D.
------------------------------------------------
7P. Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production) - Togo
------------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in Missouri in Quest Mode
BPM: 141
Genre: Mondo Jazz
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 71 5 0
BASIC 3 123 8 20
DIFFICULT 5 177 36 26
EXPERT 7 299 38 16
EXPERT NOTES: Another tricky seven, with steps following the chaotic jazz
rhythms. That means, of course, lots of offbeat steps. There's also some long
streamage here, some sixteenth clusters, and the song's signature step
pattern: following the trumpet in the intro and outro, a jump, two sixteenths,
another jump, two more sixteenths, and a final jump. Wash, rinse, repeat for
each instance of that trumpet pattern. I would've given this an eight, myself.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania 6th MIX + CORE REMIX (JP PS1)
DDR Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: See "Koibito" for info on Togo.
Miscellany: The original "Stop Violence!" by Herbie Hammock & His Band (no idea
who that is) hasn't appeared in DDR yet, but you can still check it out on the
US PS2 version of beatmania.
----------------------------
7Q. think ya better D - sAmi
----------------------------
UNLOCK: Special invitation in California in Quest Mode
BPM: 136
Genre: House
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 82 15 0
BASIC 3 147 1 0
DIFFICULT 4 162 15 0
EXPERT 5 215 22 0
EXPERT NOTES: What is there to say? It's an average five-footer with nothing to
make it stand out from the pack. There's some short- to mid-length streams,
none of which do anything particularly tricky. And that's about all this chart
has to offer!
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR 2nd MIX (JP PS1)
American Appearances: DDR Konamix, DDRMAX2
Artist Notes: sAmi is Yuuichi Asami, better known as U1-ASAMI, perhaps best
known as the sound director for the PS versions of DDR, producing background
tunes for menus and stuff, which aren't found in the arcade versions.
--------------------------------
7R. Tir na n'Og - WORLD SEQUENCE
--------------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the Northern Regional Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 54-112
Genre: Jig
(The song scrolls at 112 for the majority, with a 54 BPM section starting
around 54 seconds in and lasting exactly 10 seconds.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 72 0 2
BASIC 3 110 5 0
DIFFICULT 6 275 57 26
EXPERT 9 434 33 27
EXPERT NOTES: It's a good thing the slowdown is only a small part of this one,
else this would be like an Irish version of "bag". Hell, I'm even pretty sure
there's those damn twenty-fourth notes in there, just like "bag"! Blecch. The
rest of the song has you stepping lots of sixteenth clusters, which is tricky
but nothing like the ten-second hell of the slowdown section...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: pop'n music 8 (JP Arcade)
DDR Debut: Brand New!
Artist Notes: WORLD SEQUENCE is Seiya Murai, a Konami Original artist who
contributes mostly to the pop'n music series.
-----------------------
7S. Vanity Angel - Fixx
-----------------------
BPM: 140
Genre: Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 79 4 0
BASIC 3 144 1 0
DIFFICULT 6 236 1 0
EXPERT 8 325 1 18
EXPERT NOTES: Ugh. What a mess. When you're following the piano, things are
nice and sensible, but then you have to follow the synthesizer and, well, it's
a rhythmic nightmare. Lots of sixteenthage... syncopated, clustered, and just
generally clusterf***ed.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Dancing Stage EuroMIX 2 (EU Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX2
Artist Notes: Fixx is a collaboration between Naoki and Taku Sakakibara, better
known as TaQ, a prolific contributor to IIDX.
----------------
7T. Xenon - Mr.T
----------------
UNLOCK: Beat the Canadian Regional Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 158
Genre: Electroshock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 121 6 0
BASIC 4 160 21 12
DIFFICULT 6 271 23 12
EXPERT 9 375 1 11
EXPERT NOTES: Mr.T stuff tends to be quite hard when it makes its way over to
DDR, and this was no exception. Things start out with a long stream at the
beginning before the steps start to follow the synthesizer and all hell
breaks loose. Lots of offbeat steps and sixteenth clusters in rhythms I
couldn't even start to describe...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: beatmania IIDX 8th Style (JP Arcade)
DDR Debut: DDR Extreme (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX2
About The Artist: No, not the A-Team star. This is Tomoyuki Uchida, who has
made quite a few songs for IIDX and pop'n music.
+---------------------+
|8. DOWNLOADABLE SONGS|
+---------------------+
Technically, these songs are on the disc; you're just paying money to unlock
them. I'll pause and let you get your "Konami is evil and money-hungry" rant
out of the way...
...done? Good. Moving on...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8A. BROKEN MY HEART (Cusimo & Co. Starlite Remix) - NAOKI feat. Paula Terry
----[DL01]-----------------------------------------------------------------
BPM: 140
Genre: Hyper Eurobeat
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 104 1 3
BASIC 3 195 9 4
DIFFICULT 5 218 4 10
EXPERT 9 377 79 12
EXPERT NOTES: A lot of notes here, and a lot of air. At first the jumps are
completely separate from the streams, but the gradually merge together,
including one of those annoying streams where every other note is a jump.
Ouch. Other than that, there's longish streams with turns thrown in, and some
three-note sixteenth clusters.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original Remix
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4 (Song Pack 16)
About The Artist: See "B4U" for Naoki and "Drivin'" for Paula Terry. Cusimo &
Co. are a happy hardcore group from Quebec consisting of Dave Phaneuf, Jamie
Thompson, Alessandro Iacovaccio, and Thomas Howard Lichtenstein. Thomas should
be recognizable to Bemani fans for his vocals in DDR tunes including "La
Senorita" and "Ballad For You." However, since there's no male vocals in this
tune, he probably didn't have much to do with this particular song...
-----------------------------------------
8B. Me and My Friends - THE DANDY WARHOLS
----[DL02]-------------------------------
BPM: 156
Genre: Rock
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 89 0 5
BASIC 2 130 1 8
DIFFICULT 5 211 1 3
EXPERT 8 306 104 5
EXPERT NOTES: One of the jumpiest songs in DDR history. And yet, it's
shockingly easy. The streams are simple, and there's never any air in the
streams. So, to summarize, lots of air, but they don't actually do anything
tricky with it.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4 (Song Pack 16)
About The Artist: The Dandy Warhols are a rock band based in Portland, Oregon.
Their current lineup consists of Courtney Taylor-Taylor on vocals and guitar,
Zia McCabe on keyboard, Peter Holmstrom on guitar, and Brent De Boer on drums.
The band's name, of course, is a pun on the name of artist Andy Warhol. This
is their latest single, released in 2006.
Miscellany: The song's actual title is "Have A Kick Ass Summer (Me and My
Friends)." They omitted the main title, presumably because the phrase kick ass
would cause mass outrage in overprotective parents or something, I dunno.
That's all fine and dandy (LOL pun) but the phrase "Have a kick ass summer" is
still clearly visible in the song's background still...
-------------------------------
8C. Audiophilosophy - Neverakka
----[DL03]---------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Trance
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 71 4 4
BASIC 2 106 8 4
DIFFICULT 5 216 1 6
EXPERT 8 327 35 30
EXPERT NOTES: Oooooh, tricky. This one lulls you into thinking the worst it can
do is throw air into streams, but then it suddenly forces you to follow a very
complicated synthesizer melody full of sixteenth notes stepped at a pretty odd
rhythm. Sort of like gallops, but with less space between each pair of steps.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: DDR Ultramix 4 (Song Pack 16)
About The Artist: Nevarakka, as it's properly spelled, is part of the Ultramix
favorite "A Different Drum" label. It's mostly the work of a fellow named
Philip Jidbrant.
---------------
8D. AM-3P - KTz
----[DL04]-----
BPM: 130
Genre: House
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 87 0 1
BASIC 5 164 25 0
DIFFICULT 6 195 25 0
EXPERT 8 244 29 0
ONI -- 264 59 2
EXPERT NOTES: Ah, here's a classic. Things open up with a very long stream
before the song settles into generally following this song's odd rhythms.
Aside from a few streams with jumps thrown in, it's actually a fairly easy
eight, about on par with some of Universe's harder seven-footers.
ONI NOTES: Solid nine-footer steps. There's not too many more steps than on
Expert, but they're arranged much more deviously, with lots of sixteenth
clusters. There's also a lot more jumps here, most annoyingly in an air-
packed stream right at the end.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR 2nd Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR (US PS2), DDRMAX, DDRMAX2, DDR Ultramix 4 (SP16)
About The Artist: KTz is a Naoki alias used exclusively for AM-3P and its
remixes.
Miscellany: This song has been around forever, but these Oni steps were
only recently added for its appearance in Song Pack 16. Other mixes of
this song include a "303 BASS MIX" on DDR Konamix and Ultramix Song Pack 4,
and the "AM East Mix" Challenge Mix on DDRMAX2.
-----------------------
8E. ECSTASY - d-complex
----[DL05]-------------
BPM: 00-145
(Two full stops here, the first lasting about two measures and the second
lasting four. There's also a slight BPM change somewhere in here but it's so
slight that it's hardly worth mentioning.)
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 77 3 0
BASIC 4 169 11 0
DIFFICULT 6 235 14 0
EXPERT 7 266 32 0
ONI -- 328 21 23
EXPERT NOTES: Pretty basic seven-footer, though the stops might throw you off
ever so slightly. Memorize where those stops are, and this is a piece of cake.
Nice delicious crumb cake, with mostly basic streams, a few of which get
fairly long, plus a few crossovers.
ONI NOTES: The most interesting change is all the freezes, since this song
originally comes from a time before their introduction. Other than that, the
streams are longer, with more crossovers, and later on they've added some
fairly tricky sixteenth clusters.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDR 5th Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX, DDR Extreme, DDR Ultramix 4 (SP16)
About The Artist: d-complex is yet another Naoki pseudonym, used only for
this song and its remixes as far as I can tell.
Miscellany: Just like AM-3P, this song has been around for quite some time,
but the Oni steps only popped up as of SP16. The "midnight blue mix"
Challenge version of this song is in DDR Extreme US.
----------------------------------------------------
8F. ON THE JAZZ (Smooth House Mix) - Jonny Dynamite!
----[DL06]------------------------------------------
BPM: 130
Genre: Smooth Jazz
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 91 1 0
BASIC 3 120 5 13
DIFFICULT 5 178 9 12
EXPERT 8 326 41 12
EXPERT NOTES: Far more subtle than most remixes; you can sort of think of it as
"ON THE JAZZ" Oni. It's harder than the original, typically following the jazz
rhythms or the vocals, but what really seperates this from the non-Smooth
House version are the many sixteenths that pop up here. Pay attention to the
song, everything follows it closely...
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Jonny Dynamite is the vocalist, most likely, because the
composer for this tine (well, the original, anyway) is U1-ASAMI. See "think ya
better D" for a little more info on him. I have no idea if he was responsible
for this remix as well, or if someone else did it.
Miscellany: The original "ON THE JAZZ" can be found on DDR Konamix, DDR
Ultramix, and DDR Extreme US.
--------------------------
8G. Beside You - Intuition
----[DL07]----------------
BPM: 131
Genre: Synthpop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 81 0 0
BASIC 3 112 2 2
DIFFICULT 5 171 9 6
EXPERT 6 191 32 13
EXPERT NOTES: Jumps straight into eighths are always tricky, and this is no
exception. Still, it's an easy chart. Aside from those jumps, you're really
only faced with short streams with simple crossovers. The jumps are the
hardest part. Make sure you can go from jumps straight into an eighth note!
If you can, you'll get through this one, no problem.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: Yet another group from the "A Different Drum" label. This
tune comes from their 2006 album, "Overworked and Underplayed."
-----------------------
8H. White Hot - R.A.S.T
----[DL08]-------------
BPM: 129
Genre: Electronica
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 106 0 0
BASIC 3 170 5 0
DIFFICULT 6 226 6 2
EXPERT 9 404 29 12
EXPERT NOTES: Harder than you'd probably expect. The steps love to follow the
vocals, which at this speed leads to lots of sixteenth clusters! Some of them
can get pretty damn long, so brace yourself.
-----
Song Type: License
Bemani Debut: Brand New!
About The Artist: I know nothing about these guys. Not. A. Thing.
--------------------------
8I. CANDY* - Luv UNLIMITED
----[DL09]----------------
BPM: 192
Genre: Candy Pop
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 89 10 0
BASIC 4 170 12 0
DIFFICULT 5 236 15 16
EXPERT 8 329 28 29
ONI -- 351 89 60
EXPERT NOTES: The hardest thing about this song is its speed. The steps
themselves don't get very complicated, aside from a few turns and freezes,
with all the streams being very short, but it's still a decent challenge
when you factor in the brisk 192 BPM pace.
ONI NOTES: I'd rate this a nine-footer. It's fairly similar to the Expert
chart, but with longer, harder streams and a lot more jumps and freezes, both
of which are thrown into streams quite often now.
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: DDRMAX: DDR 6th Mix (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDRMAX, DDR Ultramix 3
About The Artist: Luv UNLIMITED is yet another Naoki pseudonym, only ever used
for this song.
Miscellany: Once again, a classic song revived here with brand-new Oni steps!
A vocal mix of this tune, "CANDY<3" is on DDR Ultramix and DDR Extreme 2. In
Ultramix, however, the steps were identical to CANDY*'s. A remix of that
remix, "CANDY (UFO MIX)," makes its debut in Hottest Party.
----------------------------------------------------
8J. KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG - NAOKI J-STYLE feat. MIU
----[DL10]------------------------------------------
BPM: 155
Genre: J-Pop
~4 PANELS~
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 106 5 0
BASIC 3 116 4 6
DIFFICULT 5 193 13 13
EXPERT 8 316 29 10
ONI -- 444 46 29
EXPERT NOTES: Quite a few pseudo-triplets in the intro and outro, with a few
long streams and some offbeat steps. It's a pretty easy eight-footer though.
ONI NOTES: Sadistic nine-footer steps. Wow. The streams are much longer, it's
a lot jumpier (with the obligatory "air-filled stream," too), and there's a
whole bunch of sixteenths thrown in!
-----
Song Type: Konami Original
Bemani Debut: Dance ManiaX 2nd Mix
DDR Debut: DDR Extreme (JP Arcade)
American Appearances: DDR Ultramix 3
About The Artist: See "B4U" for info on Naoki. MIU is Miyuki Kunitake, the
vocalist here, who has also worked on a few other Bemani tunes.
Miscellany: This Oni chart is brand new.
+---------------------------------------------+
|9. COMPLETE LIST OF STEPCHARTS BY STEP RATING|
+---------------------------------------------+
For those of you who want to see just exactly how many stepcharts there are
of each foot rating... look no further! I haven't rated Beginner charts,
since they're pretty much all ones... everything else is here though! My
Oni ratings are just guesses, but they should be fairly accurate!
ONE-FOOTERS
-----------
[1 total, all Basic]
-----------
WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX) [BASIC]
TWO-FOOTERS
-----------
[14 total, all Basic]
-----------
Audiophilosophy [BASIC]
Cachaca [BASIC]
Heart With A View (Echo Image Remix) [BASIC]
Me And My Friends [BASIC]
rain of sorrow [BASIC]
Rapper's Delight [BASIC]
Run It! [BASIC]
Saturday Night [BASIC]
September '99 [BASIC]
SKY HIGH [BASIC]
Summer Fantasy [BASIC]
We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix) [BASIC]
What Have Her [BASIC]
Youngmen Blues [BASIC]
THREE-FOOTERS
-------------
[50 total, all Basic]
-------------
All Up in My Face [BASIC]
Beside You [BASIC]
Beyond Here And Now (Intensified) [BASIC]
Bongo! [BASIC]
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS [BASIC]
BROKEN MY HEART (Cusimo & Co. Starlite Remix) [BASIC]
Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix) [BASIC]
Cosmic Hammer [BASIC]
Dancefloor Killer [BASIC]
Don't Play Nice [BASIC]
Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix) [BASIC]
Feels Just Like It Should [BASIC]
Grandolin [BASIC]
Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix) [BASIC]
Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix) [BASIC]
Horsemen of the Invisible [BASIC]
Hydrasound [BASIC]
Ignition [BASIC]
Indian Summer [BASIC]
INFINITE PRAYER [BASIC]
KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG [BASIC]
Koibito [BASIC]
Less 'Yap Yap' [BASIC]
Loops [BASIC]
Love Is On Our Side [BASIC]
Magic Carpet Ride (Steir's Mix) [BASIC]
My Only Shining Star [BASIC]
Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix) [BASIC]
ON THE JAZZ (Smooth House Mix) [BASIC]
Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix) [BASIC]
PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix) [BASIC]
Race Against Time [BASIC]
Return of the Toe Jam [BASIC]
roughneck [BASIC]
Senses [BASIC]
SOMETHING WONDERFUL [BASIC]
Slow (Chemical Brothers remix) [BASIC]
Somebody To Love [BASIC]
Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production) [BASIC]
Test Room [BASIC]
The Hop [BASIC]
There's A Rhythm [BASIC]
think ya better D [BASIC]
Tir na n'Og [BASIC]
Treble, Bass, and Attitude [BASIC]
Twist [BASIC]
Vanity Angel [BASIC]
White Hot [BASIC]
Wraith [BASIC]
FOUR-FOOTERS
------------
[22 total: 15 Basic, 7 Difficult]
------------
8-bit [BASIC]
B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) [BASIC]
CANDY* [BASIC]
Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix) [BASIC]
DIAMOND JEALOUSY [BASIC]
Drivin' [BASIC]
ECSTACY [BASIC]
GO! (Mahalo Mix) [BASIC]
Guilt Is a Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix) [BASIC]
Ignition [DIFFICULT]
INSERTiON [BASIC]
KAGEROW (Dragonfly) [BASIC]
Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix) [BASIC]
Saturday Night [DIFFICULT]
Senses [DIFFICULT]
SKY HIGH [DIFFICULT]
Slam [BASIC]
There's A Rhythm [DIFFICULT]
think ya better D [DIFFICULT]
Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix) [BASIC]
WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX) [DIFFICULT]
Xenon [BASIC]
FIVE-FOOTERS
------------
[46 total: 3 Basic, 41 Difficult, 2 Expert)
------------
AM-3P [BASIC]
Audiophilosophy [DIFFICULT]
Beside You [DIFFICULT]
Beyond Here And Now (Intensified) [DIFFICULT]
Bongo! [DIFFICULT]
BROKEN MY HEART (Cusimo & Co. Starlite Remix) [DIFFICULT]
Cachaca [DIFFICULT]
CANDY* [DIFFICULT]
Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Cosmic Hammer [DIFFICULT]
Dancefloor Killer [DIFFICULT]
DIAMOND JEALOUSY [DIFFICULT]
Don't Play Nice [DIFFICULT]
Drivin' [DIFFICULT]
Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Feels Just Like It Should [DIFFICULT]
Grandolin [DIFFICULT]
HOT LIMIT [BASIC]
KAGEROW (Dragonfly) [DIFFICULT]
KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG [DIFFICULT]
Koibito [DIFFICULT]
Less 'Yap Yap' [DIFFICULT]
Love Is On Our Side [DIFFICULT]
Magic Carpet Ride (Steir's Mix) [DIFFICULT]
MAXIMIZER [BASIC]
Me And My Friends [DIFFICULT]
My Only Shining Star [DIFFICULT]
ON THE JAZZ (Smooth House Mix) [DIFFICULT]
PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix) [DIFFICULT]
rain of sorrow [DIFFICULT]
Rapper's Delight [DIFFICULT]
Run It! [DIFFICULT]
Saturday Night [EXPERT]
September '99 [DIFFICULT]
Slow (Chemical Brothers remix) [DIFFICULT]
Somebody To Love [DIFFICULT]
SOMETHING WONDERFUL [DIFFICULT]
Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production) [DIFFICULT]
Summer Fantasy [DIFFICULT]
Test Room [DIFFICULT]
The Hop [DIFFICULT]
think ya better D [EXPERT]
Twist [DIFFICULT]
We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix) [DIFFICULT]
What Have Her [DIFFICULT]
Youngmen Blues [DIFFICULT]
SIX-FOOTERS
-----------
[39 total: 1 Basic, 31 Difficult, 7 Expert]
-----------
8-bit [DIFFICULT]
All Up in My Face [DIFFICULT]
AM-3P [DIFFICULT]
B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) [DIFFICULT]
Beside You [EXPERT]
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS [DIFFICULT]
Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix) [DIFFICULT]
ECSTACY [DIFFICULT]
Guilt Is A Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Heart With a View (Echo Image Remix) [DIFFICULT]
Horsemen of the Invisible [DIFFICULT]
HOT LIMIT [DIFFICULT]
Hydrasound [DIFFICULT]
Indian Summer [DIFFICULT]
INFINITE PRAYER [DIFFICULT]
INSERTiON [DIFFICULT]
Koibito [EXPERT]
Loops [DIFFICULT]
Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix) [DIFFICULT]
My Only Shining Star [EXPERT]
Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix) [DIFFICULT]
PARANOIA EVOLUTION [BASIC]
Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Race Against Time [DIFFICULT]
Return of the Toe Jam [DIFFICULT]
roughneck [DIFFICULT]
Senses [EXPERT]
SKY HIGH [EXPERT]
Slam [DIFFICULT]
There's A Rhythm [EXPERT]
Tir na n'Og [DIFFICULT]
Treble, Bass, and Attitude [DIFFICULT]
Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Vanity Angel [DIFFICULT]
White Hot [DIFFICULT]
Wraith [DIFFICULT]
Xenon [DIFFICULT]
SEVEN-FOOTERS
-------------
[26 total: 3 Difficult, 22 Expert, 1 Oni]
-------------
All Up in My Face [EXPERT]
B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) [ONI]
Beyond Here And Now (Intensified) [EXPERT]
Bongo! [EXPERT]
Cachaca [EXPERT]
Cosmic Hammer [EXPERT]
ECSTASY [EXPERT]
Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix) [EXPERT]
Feels Just Like It Should [EXPERT]
GO! (Mahalo Mix) [DIFFICULT]
Ignition [EXPERT]
KAGEROW (Dragonfly) [EXPERT]
Magic Carpet Ride (Steir's Mix) [EXPERT]
MAXIMIZER [DIFFICULT]
PARANOIA EVOLUTION [DIFFICULT]
PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix) [EXPERT]
Somebody To Love [EXPERT]
SOMETHING WONDERFUL [EXPERT]
Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production) [EXPERT]
Summer Fantasy [EXPERT]
Test Room [EXPERT]
The Hop [EXPERT]
Twist [EXPERT]
Wraith [EXPERT]
WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX) [EXPERT]
Youngmen Blues [EXPERT]
EIGHT-FOOTERS
-------------
[36 total: 35 Expert, 1 Oni]
-------------
8-bit [EXPERT]
AM-3P [EXPERT]
Audiophilosophy [EXPERT]
B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) [EXPERT]
CANDY* [EXPERT]
Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix) [EXPERT]
Dancefloor Killer [EXPERT]
DIAMOND JEALOUSY [EXPERT]
Drivin' [EXPERT]
Grandolin [EXPERT]
Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix) [EXPERT]
Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix) [EXPERT]
Heart with a View (Echo Image Remix) [EXPERT]
Horsemen of the Invisible [EXPERT]
HOT LIMIT [EXPERT]
Hydrasound [EXPERT]
Indian Summer [EXPERT]
KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG [EXPERT]
Koibito [ONI]
Less 'Yap Yap' [EXPERT]
Loops [EXPERT]
MAXIMIZER [EXPERT]
Me And My Friends [EXPERT]
On the Jazz (Smooth House Mix) [EXPERT]
PARANOIA EVOLUTION [EXPERT]
Precious (Sasha's Gargantuan Vocal Mix) [EXPERT]
Race Against Time [EXPERT]
Rapper's Delight [EXPERT]
Return of the Toe Jam [EXPERT]
roughneck [EXPERT]
Run It! [EXPERT]
Slow (Chemical Brothers remix) [EXPERT]
Treble, Bass, and Attitude [EXPERT]
Vanity Angel [EXPERT]
We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix) [EXPERT]
NINE-FOOTERS
------------
[24 total: 20 Expert, 4 Oni]
------------
AM-3P [EXPERT]
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS [EXPERT]
BROKEN MY HEART (Cusimo & Co. Starlite Mix) [EXPERT]
CANDY* [ONI]
Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix) [EXPERT]
Don't Play Nice [EXPERT]
ECSTASY [EXPERT]
GO! (Mahalo Mix) [EXPERT]
Guilt is a Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix) [EXPERT]
HOT LIMIT [ONI]
INFINITE PRAYER [EXPERT] (It's rated a seven in-game, but it's really a nine!)
INSERTiON [EXPERT]
KISS ME ALL NIGHT LONG [ONI]
Love Is On Our Side [EXPERT]
Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix) [EXPERT]
Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix) [EXPERT]
rain of sorrow [EXPERT]
Slam [EXPERT]
Tir na n'Og [EXPERT]
Treble, Bass, and Attitude [ONI]
Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix) [EXPERT]
What Have Her [EXPERT]
White Hot [EXPERT]
Xenon [EXPERT]
TEN-FOOTERS
-----------
[4 total, all Oni]
-----------
Grandolin [ONI]
MAXIMIZER [ONI]
Return of the Toe Jam [ONI]
Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix) [ONI]
+-----------------+
|10. POWER COURSES|
+-----------------+
Power Courses are, basically, mini "nonstop megamixes" of several different
songs. You can find them by entering Party Mode, then selecting Power. This
apparently is Universe's version of the PS2/Arcade games' Nonstop/Oni Modes.
It's a cool idea, though I hope Universe 2 takes the idea further: how cool
would a boss song medley be, for example?
--------------------------------------
10A. Power 1 (acid-tech mix) - dj nagi
--------------------------------------
BPM: 00-147
Contains:
Ignition - Audio Magnetics
roughneck - skylab2000
Hydrasound - GEOMANCER
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS - SPARKER
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 299 10 7
BASIC 3 428 14 19
DIFFICULT 5 770 55 69
EXPERT 8 1055 141 67
EXPERT NOTES: The steps themselves don't differ much from their respective
songs' normal stepcharts; however, is it just me, or does this stepchart go
ever-so-slightly offsync starting with the transition between Ignition and
roughneck? I always start getting tons of Greats around that part.
--------------------------------------
10B. Power 2 (Shuffle Mix) - Stillwind
--------------------------------------
BPM: 00-188
Contains:
Gyruss (Full Tilt Mix) - JT.1UP
Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix) - Akira Yamaoka
B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX) - NAOKI
Drivin' - NAOKI feat. Paula Terry
Xenon - Mr.T
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 291 8 7
BASIC 4 504 35 40
DIFFICULT 6 794 95 78
EXPERT 9 1181 123 64
EXPERT NOTES: Lots of hard songs in this one, so get used to the various tricks
employed by each of these songs. I would like to point out that there seems to
be a very slight speed-up during the sixteenth cluster in the transition
between "B4U" and "Drivin'"... nothing easily perceivable, but enough that I
always seem to screw up on that part...
----------------------------------------
10C. Power 3 (south beach mix) - dj nagi
----------------------------------------
BPM: 125-150
Contains:
PUT YOUR FAITH IN ME (Steve Porter Mix) - UZI-LAY
Castlevania (Freestylin' Mix) - WaveGroup feat. Nicky G.
think ya better D - sAmi
Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production) - Togo
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 280 24 3
BASIC 3 464 14 47
DIFFICULT 5 669 77 46
EXPERT 9 972 76 40
EXPERT NOTES: The Castlevania part of this mix is the only part really
deserving the nine-footer rating; the rest is pretty tame. Especially "think
ya better D"...
------------------------------------------
10D. Power 4 (subTranced mix) - DJ Jiggens
------------------------------------------
BPM: 00-226
Contains:
SOMETHING WONDERFUL - L.E.D.
rain of sorrow - NM feat. EBONY FAY
Vanity Angel - Fixx
INSERTiON - NAOKI underground
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 303 23 2
BASIC 3 471 23 68
DIFFICULT 6 801 11 128
EXPERT 9 1136 37 61
EXPERT NOTES: There tends to be lots of oddities in the transitions in
these mixes and this one takes the cake: there's a jump apparently
RIGHT ON THE STOP between "Vanity Angel" and "INSERTiON" that's just
about impossible to hit. Apparently you have to hit it just exactly as
the song starts up again. Yeesh...
------------------------------------------
10E. Power 5 (On the Floor Mix) - Midihead
------------------------------------------
UNLOCK: Beat the first National Championship in Quest Mode
BPM: 131-142
Contains:
Arms (Alpha Omega Extended Mix) - Monolithic
In My Eyes (Midihead Remix) - Akira Yamaoka
Colors (Midihead's Sapphire Mix) - dj TAKA
Jelly Kiss (Midihead's Smak Remix) - Togo Project feat. Sana
Diff ~ Steps ~ Jumps ~ Freezes
BEGINNER -- 301 6 4
BASIC 3 498 20 41
DIFFICULT 6 696 67 57
EXPERT 8 904 96 97
EXPERT NOTES: The only truly hard part here is "Arms," which features lots of
nasty tricks with sixteenth clusters. After that, it's mostly smooth sailing
with mostly short streams, though there are some more sixteenths, in much
simpler patterns, in the beginning of "Colors."
---
Miscellany: If you're even the least bit observant, you've likely noticed that
none of these songs are actually in DDR Universe. Specifically, the original
"Arms (Alpha Omega Mix)" was in Ultramix 4, "In My Eyes (Midihead Remix)" was
in Ultramix 2, and both "Colors (Midihead's Sapphire Mix)" and "Jelly Kiss
(Midihead's Smak Remix) are from Ultramix 3. The Jelly Kiss remix still
amazes me because, awesome as it may be, it sounds virtually nothing like the
original...
+-------------------------+
|11. QUEST MODE... BLECCH!|
+-------------------------+
Ugh... everyone hates Quest Mode. That's no hyperbole, it's really that awful!
...perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. Welcome to Quest Mode! It's the "Story
Mode," if you will, of DDR Universe. The basic idea is that you're an up-and-
coming dancer making his or her way up through the standings, from dinky little
State competitions up through the national championships! Someday you'll
dominate the entire nation... but to start out, you're stuck in Sacramento.
Beat the simple challenge there, and the adjacent states will now be available
for you to travel to. Lather, rinse, repeat until you've won a challenge in
all the states and provinces! That's the basic goal...
...and I'll be honest. I hated Quest Mode and I refuse to play through it
again! So this won't really be too in-depth, just enough to hopefully get you
through this hellish mode alive...
-----------------------------------
11A. FIVE BASIC TYPES OF CHALLENGES
-----------------------------------
Wanna know what kind of crap you'll have to do here? Here are the five types
of challenges that form the core of Quest Mode!
FANBASE QUOTA: You're given a certain number of points to reach in one song.
Each step gives you a certain number of points that depends on step rating,
number of backup dancers, how many movie clips you own (and if they're even
playing in the background), and whether you own the song or not.
COMBO (REGULAR): A fairly straightforward challenge, to reach a designated
number of combos.
FREEZE COMBO: Only Freeze Arrows count here. I originally said you had to get
a Great or better, but as Ben Harper pointed out, that's wrong. Actually, it
doesn't matter what you score on the step initially, as long as you get the
O.K. at the end.
JUMP COMBO: Obviously, get a combo of the designated number of double steps.
DANCE BATTLE: Some random character challenges you to a dance battle! To win,
you have to completely take over your foe's lifebar. Get rid of all their
hideous blue and replace it with your delicious redness! Once you completely
take the lifebar over, it starts flashing rainbow colors and you've won! Like
with fanbase quota challenges, step rating, backup dancers, movie clips, and
song clips affect your performance... but be wary, sometimes your opponent
might own some songs and movies too! (On the song select screen, you can tell
that your opponent owns a song if there's an upside-down music note icon
beside it.)
Sometimes, Freeze and Jump Combo challenges make some rather absurd requests.
Most songs don't have such high jump/freeze counts. Sure, your combo doesn't
reset between songs so you can take as long as it takes to reach the quota...
but after the first song, every subsequent song is randomly selected by the
game. Yeah, even if the song it picks has no jumps/freezes. So, if you'd rather
not be at the game's mercy, you can do your best to beat the challenge on the
first song, using this handy list of jump- and freeze-heavy songs I've
compiled! Because, well, I'm just nice like that! =D
FOR FREEZE COMBO CHALLENGES (featuring 50+ freezes):
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS [DIFFICULT]
CANDY* [ONI]
DIAMOND JEALOUSY [EXPERT]
Don't Play Nice [EXPERT]
rain of sorrow [DIFFICULT]
SOMETHING WONDERFUL [BASIC or DIFFICULT]
Twist [EXPERT]
FOR JUMP COMBO CHALLENGES (featuring 50+ jumps):
All Up In My Face [EXPERT]
AM-3P [ONI]
BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS [EXPERT]
BROKEN MY HEART [EXPERT]
CANDY* [ONI]
DIAMOND JEALOUSY [DIFFICULT or EXPERT] (It also features 49 on Basic, FYI)
Don't Play Nice [EXPERT]
Drivin' [EXPERT]
Heart with a View [EXPERT]
HOT LIMIT [ONI]
Love Me Do [EXPERT]
MAXIMIZER [ONI]
Me And My Friends [EXPERT]
Nightshade [EXPERT]
PARANOIA EVOLUTION [DIFFICULT]
Precious [EXPERT]
Tir na n'Og [DIFFICULT]
Tsugaru [ONI]
Twist [EXPERT]
...or you can just go into Options and turn on "All Freeze" or "All Jump."
That works too.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
11B. BACKUP DANCERS, SONG AND MOVIE CLIPS, AND OTHER WAYS TO SUCK LESS
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On your travels across lovely North America, people will quite often either try
to sell you stuff or ask you to hire them. Either way, it's best to SAY YES!
They will help immensely in Fanbase Quota challenges and Dance Battles.
Specifically...
BACKUP DANCERS: Just generally boost your performance. You can only hire eight
per state, so say no when a ninth asks to join your squad in a state – it's
just a waste of money. And there's possibly another reason to decline, if
you're the kind of guy who can dance with a boner... see below.
MOVIE CLIPS: When a clip that you own plays in the background of a song, you'll
enter "Fever Mode." The fever bar above your avatar lights up to signify this,
and while that clip plays, the amount of fanbase you recieve/the amount of
your opponent's lifebar that you take away increases.
MUSIC CLIPS: When you own a song, you'll gain sort of a "Fever-lite Mode." The
boost won't be as much as in Fever Mode, but it will last for the entirety of
the song.
But there's one thing you should probably be aware of. If you're a guy, chances
are, you've been enjoying the lovely ladies of DDR Universe. Lady's a skanky
whore here and, y'know what, that's not a bad thing to me! And those sexy dance
moves they've got help complete the package. Me likey the ass-shaking! However,
if there's any male dancer anywhere on-screen, for some reason, female dancers
will abandon their ass-shaking ways and dance like a man. Which is not merely
un-sexy, in fact, it looks absolutely ridiculous. For this reason, you might
actually want to turn down any male backup dancers who offer to join your squad
because, even if it will take longer to build up your backup crew, Lady will
stay sexy. And Quest Mode is so horrible, watching the dancers is pretty much
the only conceivably enjoyable thing about it! So that's certainly something to
consider. (Thanks to Ben Harper for reminding me to point this out!)
-------------------
11C. SESSION OFFERS
-------------------
"What are session offers?" Why, thanks for asking! Basically, sometimes an
envelope will pop up in a state or province you've already cleared, and you'll
be notified of a session offer there. Basically, they're just Fanbase Quota
challenges, but they quote is typically set a lot higher than in regular
Fanbase challenges. Of course, you'll also get more prize money for clearing
them, so... it might be worth it. Some of them are set so high, though, that
only advanced dancers have any chance of reaching it. They can only be cleared
on Expert, or Difficult with a decent assortment of backup dancers and clips.
They absolutely cannot be cleared on Beginner or Basic. Sorry, beginners. DDR
Universe hates you. It's a sadistic little bitch.
But wait, there's more! Session offers in certain locales will reward you with
new songs! Session offers are a random occurrence, and so it's frustrating when
you're struggling to get one in a certain place... so keep exiting and
restarting the mode until you finally get lucky!
Here's a handy table so you can find out just exactly where these special
session offers are:
LOCATION | UNLOCK
----------+--------------------------
California| think ya better D
Florida | Drivin'
Illinois |Treble, Bass, and Attitude
Missouri | Stop Violence!
New York | Love Me Do
Ontario | Healing Vision
Texas | Koibito
Washington| Cachaca
------------------
11D. CHAMPIONSHIPS
------------------
Winning championships is the other way to unlock songs. To start, you'll unlock
each regional championship upon conquering each state/province in that reason.
After you win all the regional championships, you'll unlock the national
championship! Things aren't quite done after you beat that, though; play for a
while longer (not sure exactly how long, it's apparently random), and... Poof!
Another series of championships will pop up out of nowhere!
Just like session offers are beefed-up Fanbase Quota challenges, championships
are little more than harder Dance Battles. Your opponent usually owns a fairly
large chunk of the songlist, and quite a few movie clips, just to make things
that much more hellish for you. Uh... yay? (If you're against an opponent who
owns many more movie clips than you... it might be wise to be a sneaky bastard
and disable background movies. Take away their advantage! Muahahaha!)
Again, here's the table of unlocks for championships:
CHAMPIONSHIP | UNLOCK
------------------+---------------------
Canadian Regionals| Xenon
Eastern Regionals|My Only Shining Star
Northern Regionals| Tir na n'Og
Southern Regionals|Return of the Toe Jam
Western Regionals| Bongo
First Nationals | MAXIMIZER
" " | Power Mix 5
" " | Queen (character)
Second Nationals | PARANOIA EVOLUTION
+------------------+
|12. CHALLENGE MODE|
+------------------+
===========
12A. SIMPLE
===========
--------------------
SIMPLE 1 - Test Room
--------------------
START: 1
END: 18
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Do not step on arrows with BOO timing.
-------------------------
SIMPLE 2 - Less 'Yap Yap'
-------------------------
START: 21
END: 46
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Do not step on any Up or Down arrows. Step on all other arrows with
PERFECT or GREAT timing. If you misstep, the challenge will end immediately.
------------------------------------------
SIMPLE 3 - Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix)
------------------------------------------
START: 21
END: 41
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) The dance gauge will not replenish during play.
---------------------------
SIMPLE 4 - Rapper's Delight
---------------------------
START: 1
END: 20
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Step on all arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing. One misstep is allowed.
-----------------
SIMPLE 5 - Senses
-----------------
START: 9
END: 33
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Do not get more than a 10 combo. The goal is to get a 10 combo, then step
on the following arrow with a timing of GOOD, ALMOST, or BOO. If you get higher
than a 10 combo, the challenge will end immediately.
(Jumps add 2 to your combo. Hit a jump when your combo is 9, and it's all over.)
------------------------------------
SIMPLE 6 - Feels Just Like It Should
------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 37
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Do not step on two arrows at the same time. Step on all other arrows with
PERFECT or GREAT timing. If you misstep, the challenge will end immediately.
=============
12B. MODERATE
=============
------------------------------
MODERATE 1 - Dancefloor Killer
------------------------------
START: 17
END: 33
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Do not step on arrows in the same direction consecutively. Single steps
and double steps are different. For example, in the case of Up, Up arrows, step
on the first or second arrow, but not both arrows.
(I should point out that in a longer series of arrows in the same direction,
like Up, Up, Up, Up, you're supposed to make the first and third steps,
ignoring the second and fourth.)
----------------------------
MODERATE 2 - Don't Play Nice
----------------------------
START: 18
END: 47
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Only step on two arrows at the same time.
------------------------------
MODERATE 3 - Race Against Time
------------------------------
START: 1
END: 69
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: Few poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and lose some of your dance gauge.
--------------------------
MODERATE 4 - September '99
--------------------------
START: 1
END: 58
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Clear this stage with your dance gauge full. *The dance gauge will blink
when it reaches maximum.
-------------------------------------------------
MODERATE 5 - Heart With a View (Echo Image Remix)
-------------------------------------------------
START: 5
END: 24
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
-------------------
MODERATE 6 - Bongo!
-------------------
START: 1
END: 51
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
RULES:
MODIFIERS: Boost Arrows, Sudden Arrows
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
=============
12C. ORDINARY
=============
-------------------
ORDINARY 1 - Wraith
-------------------
START: 21
END: 44
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
RULES:
1) Do not step on any Up or Down arrows. Step on all other arrows with
PERFECT or GREAT timing. If you misstep, the challenge will end immediately.
---------------------------------------------
ORDINARY 2 - We Are Connected (Overdrive Mix)
---------------------------------------------
START: 5
END: 37
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
RULES:
1) Do not get more than a 10 combo. The goal is to get a 10 combo, then step
on the following arrow with a timing of GOOD, ALMOST, or BOO. If you get higher
than a 10 combo, the challenge will end immediately.
-----------------------------------------------------
ORDINARY 3 - Nightshade (Diskowarp Easily Amused Mix)
-----------------------------------------------------
START: 18
END: 50
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: Reverse Arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Do not allow the dance gauge to become empty.
--------------------------------------------------------
ORDINARY 4 - Guilt Is a Useless Emotion (Mac Quayle Mix)
--------------------------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 25
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: Few poison arrows
RULES:
1) The dance gauge will not replenish during play.
2) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
------------------------------
ORDINARY 5 - All Up In My Face
------------------------------
START: 11
END: 34
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Get more than 80% PERFECT.
---------------------------
ORDINARY 6 - Saturday Night
---------------------------
START: 1
END: 44
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Do not step on any 8th note arrows.
=============
12D. SUPERIOR
=============
---------------------------
SUPERIOR 1 - Less 'Yap Yap'
---------------------------
START: 1
END: 46
DIFFICULTY: BASIC
MODIFIERS: Hidden Arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Do not exceed 50% of the dance gauge. *Be sure to check the dance gauge
during play and misstep if you need to.
---------------------------------
SUPERIOR 2 - My Only Shining Star
---------------------------------
START: 27
END: 64
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
--------------------------------
SUPERIOR 3 - Love Is On Our Side
--------------------------------
START: 1
END: 29
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Boost Arrows, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on arrows in the same direction consecutively. Single steps
and double steps are different. For example, in the case of Up, Up arrows, step
on the first or second arrow, but not both arrows.
---------------------------
SUPERIOR 4 - Summer Fantasy
---------------------------
START: 41
END: 58
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Flat Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on any quarter note arrows.
---------------------
SUPERIOR 5 - Ignition
---------------------
START: 17
END: 49
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Some poison arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and lose some of your dance gauge.
2) Clear this stage with your dance gauge full. *The dance gauge will blink
when it reaches maximum.
----------------------
SUPERIOR 6 - HOT LIMIT
----------------------
START: 1
END: 66
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Get more than 85% PERFECT and clear this stage with a full combo. Focus
on one arrow at a time.
==============
12E. MARVELOUS
==============
---------------------
MARVELOUS 1 - Koibito
---------------------
START: 5
END: 33
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: 3x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Clear this stage with your dance gauge full. *The dance gauge will blink
when it reaches maximum.
------------------------
MARVELOUS 2 - Hydrasound
------------------------
START: 1
END: 58
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Reverse Arrows, All Jump
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
(All Jump apparently doesn't convert every single step into a jump,
fortunately. It's all in quarters. Also, if Konami was clever, they would've
used The Hop for this challenge...)
---------------------------
MARVELOUS 3 - Cosmic Hammer
---------------------------
START: 9
END: 33
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Many poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
---------------------
MARVELOUS 4 - The Hop
---------------------
START: 1
END: 26
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Phantom Arrows, Reverse Arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Clear this stage with your dance gauge full. *The dance gauge will blink
when it reaches maximum.
--------------------------------
MARVELOUS 5 - Everytime We Touch
--------------------------------
START: 1
END: 59
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Do not exceed 25% of the dance gauge. *Be sure to check the dance gauge
during play and misstep if you need to.
-------------------------
MARVELOUS 6 - Tir na n'Og
-------------------------
START: 1
END: 49
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: Flat Arrows (!)
RULES:
1) Get more than 90% PERFECT and clear this stage with a full combo. Focus
on one arrow at a time.
(Holy crap! What kind of sadistic bastard thought THIS was a good idea?)
============
12F. GENUINE
============
-------------------------------------
GENUINE 1 - Horsemen of the Invisible
-------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 29
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed, Phantom Arrows, Dark Arrows, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not exceed 25% of the dance gauge. *Be sure to check the dance gauge
during play and misstep if you need to.
(Get it? Horsemen of the INVISIBLE on PHANTOM and DARK? How clever...)
----------------------------------------
GENUINE 2 - Healing Vision (GRIDLOK Mix)
----------------------------------------
START: 43
END: 84
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Boost Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on any Up or Down arrows. Step on all other arrows with
PERFECT or GREAT timing. If you misstep, the challenge will end immediately.
------------------------------------------
GENUINE 3 - Slow (Chemical Brothers remix)
------------------------------------------
START: 38
END: 62
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Clear this stage with 0 points. GOOD equals 0 points. *Be sure not to get
many BOO and focus on one arrow at a time.
(How ironic... Slow, with the arrows sped up... oh, and good effin' luck...)
-----------------
GENUINE 4 - Twist
-----------------
START: 1
END: 56
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on two arrows at the same time. Step on all other arrows with
PERFECT or GREAT timing. If you misstep, the challenge will end immediately.
----------------
GENUINE 5 - Slam
----------------
START: 1
END: 74
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
RULES:
1) Do not get more than a 10 combo. The goal is to get a 10 combo, then step
on the following arrow with a timing of GOOD, ALMOST, or BOO. If you get higher
than a 10 combo, the challenge will end immediately.
--------------------------------
GENUINE 6 - B4U (B4 ZA BEAT MIX)
--------------------------------
START: 1
END: 57
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 3x Arrow Speed, Boost Arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Do not allow the dance gauge to become empty.
==============
12G. PARAMOUNT
==============
You don't unlock PARANOIA EVOLUTION by clearing these challenges! The
achievements are WRONG!!!
----------------------------------------
PARAMOUNT 1 - WWW.BLONDE GIRL (MOMO MIX)
----------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 57
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) Do not exceed 25% of the dance gauge. *Be sure to check the dance gauge
during play and misstep if you need to.
---------------------------
PARAMOUNT 2 - September '99
---------------------------
START: 1
END: 58
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Boost Arrows, Hidden Arrows, Mirror Arrows, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Get more than 85% PERFECT.
------------------------------
PARAMOUNT 3 - DIAMOND JEALOUSY
------------------------------
START: 1
END: 69
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed, some poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
------------------------------
PARAMOUNT 4 - Somebody To Love
------------------------------
START: 1
END: 52
DIFFICULTY: DIFFICULT
MODIFIERS: 0.5x Arrow Speed, Phantom Arrows, Dark Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on arrows in the same direction consecutively. Single steps
and double steps are different. For example, in the case of Up, Up arrows, step
on the first or second arrow, but not both arrows.
---------------------------------------------
PARAMOUNT 5 - Close Your Eyes (Activated Mix)
---------------------------------------------
START: 33
END: 49
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: All Freeze, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) The dance gauge will not replenish during play.
2) Step on only 8th note arrows.
------------------------------
PARAMOUNT 6 - Rapper's Delight
------------------------------
START: 1
END: 50
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 5x Arrow Speed, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Get more than 85% PERFECT and clear this stage with a full combo. Focus
on one arrow at a time.
===============
12H. EXORBITANT
===============
----------------------
EXORBITANT 1 - Run It!
----------------------
START: 1
END: 41
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Get more than 95% PERFECT and clear this stage with a full combo. Focus
on one arrow at a time.
----------------------
EXORBITANT 2 - Cachaca
----------------------
START: 46
END: 49
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed
RULES:
1) Step on all arrows with GREAT timing.
---------------------------------------------
EXORBITANT 3 - Love Me Do (The Acolyte's Mix)
---------------------------------------------
START: 33
END: 57
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 3x Arrow Speed, All Freeze
RULES:
1) Step on all arrows with PERFECT timing.
(Keep in mind, reading Freeze arrows is a lot like reading Flat arrows...)
----------------------------------------
EXORBITANT 4 - Feels Just Like It Should
----------------------------------------
START: 20
END: 37
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed, Flat Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on any 16th note arrows.
----------------------------------------------------
EXORBITANT 5 - Stop Violence! (B.L.T. Re Production)
----------------------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 51
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed, Phantom Arrows, some poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
---------------------------
EXORBITANT 6 - Vanity Angel
---------------------------
START: 1
END: 55
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 3x Arrow Speed, Boost Arrows, dance gauge will begin near empty
RULES:
1) The dance gauge will not replenish during play.
2) Do not step on arrows in the same direction consecutively. Single steps
and double steps are different. For example, in the case of Up, Up arrows,
step on the first or second arrow, but not both arrows.
=================
12I. CATASTROPHIC
=================
------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 1 - Drivin'
------------------------
START: 25
END: 35
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Right Arrows, music is slowed
RULES:
1) Step on all arrows with PERFECT timing.
------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 2 - Cachaca
------------------------
START: 1
END: 49
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Sudden Arrows
RULES:
1) Get more than 70 each of PERFECT, GREAT, and GOOD. *Try to get many GOOD
in the beginning.
---------------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 3 - GO! (Mahalo Mix)
---------------------------------
START: 1
END: 67
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 1.5x Arrow Speed, some poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
2) Get more than 90% PERFECT.
------------------------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 4 - Treble, Bass and Attitude
------------------------------------------
START: 24
END: 41
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Flat Arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on any quarter note arrows.
--------------------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 5 - Return of the Toe Jam
--------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 66
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed, Phantom Arrows, Reverse Arrows, some poison arrows
RULES:
1) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
---------------------------------------
CATASTROPHIC 6 - Tsugaru (OR-IF-IS Mix)
---------------------------------------
START: 1
END: 67
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 2x Arrow Speed, some poison arrows
RULES:
1) Do not step on arrows in the same direction consecutively. Single steps
and double steps are different. For example, in the case of Up, Up arrows, step
on the first or second arrow, but not both arrows.
2) Step on any poison arrows and fail.
================
12J. APOCALYPTIC
================
------------------------
APOCALYPTIC 1 - SKY HIGH
------------------------
START: 27
END: 37
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Stealth Arrows (!), Dark Arrows
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
(You have absolutely no hope of passing this unless you painstakingly take the
time to memorize these steps elsewhere, perhaps in Training Mode?)
---------------------
APOCALYPTIC 2 - Xenon
---------------------
START: 1
END: 58
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Flat Arrows
RULES:
1) The dance gauge will not replenish during play.
2) Do not step on any 16th note arrows.
-------------------------
APOCALYPTIC 3 - INSERTiON
-------------------------
START: 52
END: 59
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 8x Arrow Speed, Reverse Arrows
RULES:
1) Step on all arrows with PERFECT timing.
-------------------------------
APOCALYPTIC 4 - Don't Play Nice
-------------------------------
START: 1
END: 47
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: 0.5x Arrow Speed, Flat Arrows
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
2) Only step on two arrows at the same time.
-----------------------------------
APOCALYPTIC 5 - BRIGHTNESS DARKNESS
-----------------------------------
START: 42
END: 68
DIFFICULTY: EXPERT
MODIFIERS: Shuffle Arrows, Dark Arrows, Reverse Arrows, Late 8th Note
RULES:
1) Get a full combo of all the arrows. A full combo is stepping on all
arrows with PERFECT or GREAT timing.
-------------------------
APOCALYPTIC 6 - MAXIMIZER
-------------------------
START: 1
END: 75
DIFFICULTY: ONI
RULES:
1) Get more than 90% PERFECT and clear this stage with a full combo.
Focus on one arrow at a time.
(This is it... the grand finale! No silly gimmicks, just a challenge to perform
well on the hardest stepchart in DDR Universe...)
+---------------+
|13. OTHER MODES|
+---------------+
Aside from Game Mode and Quest Mode, perhaps you're wondering what all that
other stuff on the main menu is for. Well... wonder no more!
---------------
13A. PARTY MODE
---------------
This mode contains various "Party Games" to break up the monotony of basic DDR.
If you have no friends, CPU opponents are available on all the multiplayer
modes. The games in this mode include...
POWER: I already covered this above; test your endurance in what I like to call
"Nonstop Mini-Megamixes!"
SPEED: Choose a song, and step all the arrows as fast as possible, regardless
of rhythm.
ATTACK: A two-player mode sort of like the "Battle Mode" in recent PS2 mixes.
Build up an attack with multiple successful steps on a particular arrow: Down
is Attack, which lowers your opponent's step zone; Up is Recover, which raises
yours; Left is Virus, which counteracts your opponent's Attack or Recover
Combo; and Right is Firewall, which blocks your opponent's Viruses. It's not
as confusing as it sounds once you actually get into it.
BOMB: A mode for 2-4 players, sort of like a DDR version of Hot Potato. Get 5
combos to pass the bomb to someone else; you lose if you're holding the bomb
when the song ends, or if you take too long to get 5 combos.
SYNC: Cooperative mode for up to 4 players. The game ends if even one of you
misstep. You can apparently add CPU players here too, weird as that seems.
TRIPLE: Sort of like "12 Panels" mode, where stepcharts span three dance pads.
QUAD: I can't imagine anyone actually having the room for this, but it's like
Triple, with yet another added, for a terrifying grand total of four pads at
once...
POINT: Each player starts with 16 points. You lose a point if you get a lower
step rating than your opponent. The last player standing wins, or if there's
more than one player with points left at the end of the song, whoever has the
most points claims victory. For 2-4 players.
SCORE: 2-4 player competition to achieve the highest score on a song.
RELAY: Weird. Just weird. 2-4 players alternate steps on a song.
-----------------
13B. WORKOUT MODE
-----------------
Watch the calories burn as you dance, baby! DDR makes a pretty good workout,
really. Just input your weight, turn on "Workout Switch," and you'll know how
many calories you're supposedly burning no matter what mode you play!
--------------
13C. XBOX LIVE
--------------
Coming soon! Getting my 360 hooked up to the Internet is too much of a hassle
at the moment, and I downloaded songs through the Xbox Live Marketplace, so I
don't know anything about this mode right now other than the fact that you can
download the songs through here, and play against other people who lack real-
life friends every bit as much as you do!
------------------
13D. TRAINING MODE
------------------
Is there a song that's giving you trouble? Then come here to beat it at your
own pace! Unlike other modes of gameplay, you can set additional options.
For example, you can turn on a handclap (which claps whenever there's an
arrow, useful for understanding complicated arrow patterns), a metronome
(which indicates standard quarter beats), special "Timing" accuracy ratings
(which replace the standard "Perfect," "Great," and so on with "Just," if
you're right on, or "Early" and "Late" if you're not), and a foot guide
(which suggests what foot to use on which arrow). Also, you can change the
actual speed of the music here. 5 is the normal speed, but you can take it
clear down to 1. Songs with female vocals are entertaining to play on the
lowest speed setting... creepy!
--------------
13E. EDIT MODE
--------------
Create your own steps and background movies for songs! There's so many
possibilities... and a guide specifically for this would take up a lot of room.
If you're honestly serious about this, I'll trust that you can manage to read
the manual on this one. Given my rambling personality, if I started on this, it
would get ridiculously out-of-control... so you're on your own.
------------
13F. JUKEBOX
------------
Listen to the songs in the game without all that pesky dancing business! You
can listen to the songs in one of the default orders, or create your own
special playlist.
------------
13G. RECORDS
------------
Check your records! Not much too it... but I didn't realize until checking it
out just now to write this up that they keep separate records for songs played
with "All jump" or "All freeze" on. Interesting. Sort of. Not really.
------------
13H. OPTIONS
------------
Tweak various options to fit your style of play! They're divided into various
subcategories:
SOUND: Change the volume for music, announcer voice, and sound effects. You
can't turn the announcer off, sadly, but turning her down to 1 and having
everything else maxed out is the next best thing.
CONTROLS: Choose between various strange one-pad control solutions for Double
Mode (which the game calls "8 Panels" elsewhere...), turn on vibration (if
you're CCRing), disable the ABXY buttons on the dance pad, and turn on the
ability to use the control stick on the controller. (Hey, anything beats the
atrocious control pad!)
GRAPHICS: Turn off BG movies and dancers, adjust background brightness, make
the game show the time you've elapsed dancing, and try out some alternate
arrow color schemes.
GAME: Adjust step timing to account for lag, make the game let you play to
the end of a song even if the gauge runs out, change the default difficulty,
and change the game level (which determines how fast the gauge depletes).
DANCERS: Set the default dancers for each player.
SCREEN: Set the aspect ratio of music video clips, and switch the screen
type. (Squeeze stretches it out, so there's no true solution for folks like
me without widescreen TVs. Those bastards...)
AVATAR: Select a dancer to serve as the "avatar" for a given profile. This
overrides the defaults set on the "Dancers" screen.
CREDITS: View the credits. Duh. Find out what worthless pieces of crap to mock
for the awful Quest Mode.
+---------------+
|14. GLITCHINESS|
+---------------+
Fact: DDR Universe is full of glitches. This is where I list all the glitches
I've encountered so far. Have you experienced some horrific Universe
glitchiness that I haven't mentioned here? Email 'em to me!
- Sometimes, for no apparent reason, the game won't go to the "Cleared/Failed"
screen in Quest Mode; instead, you'll be stuck watching your character there
looking like an idiot, dancing to nothing. After taking a second to get a
better look at the female dancers' sexy moves (you know, now that there's no
silly arrows or anything to distract you), you've got no choice but to hold
down Start to manually quit the song. If you'd already cleared the
challenge, no big deal, but if you hadn't, uh... too bad for you? If this
happens to you a lot, then try to figure out what songs might trigger this
and do your best to avoid them...
- Universe likes to freeze during a loading screen after several straight
hours of play. That's a glitch in itself, but sometimes I've noticed that
something a little weirder happens. After taking a long time to load, as if
it almost froze, the song will start up... with no music playing, no
background, and for your dancer... a transparent, non-moving being, whose
texturing consists of a morphed version of everything else on the screen.
Yeah, it's freaky...
- The worst thing ever... you enter Quest Mode, and suddenly your data is
corrupt! And you've lost everything you've unlocked. Horrible. I think I
remember hearing people say that this is caused by entering Quest Mode
after downloading Xbox Live content. (I'm not 100% on this; correct me if
I'm wrong.) To avoid it, it's probably best to reset after downloading.
+-------------------+
|15. VERSION HISTORY|
+-------------------+
Version 1.0 (11/01/07): Found various scraps and notes I'd taken several
months ago, and started making it into something coherent a few weeks ago,
working on it off and on. It's mostly complete, as far as I'm concerned;
minor edits may follow, for corrections and whatnot, various reader-
submitted additions, and/or a Doubles guide if I ever get adequate room to
actually play that mode.
Version 1.1 (11/20/07): Some slight changes to the Quest Mode walkthrough,
thanks to Ben Harper (thePATH420). It should now be much more accurate than
the previous version based only on my feeble memory. In less exciting news,
I've got a brand-new original legal section, instead of the previous blatant
copy-and-paste of the example from the GameFAQs help files. I'm thinking
about adding lyrics in the next update, but I don't know when that'll be, I'm
pretty distracted with Super Mario Galaxy right now...
Version 1.11 (11/25/07): A very minor update, just incorporating some info
Starrodkirby86 emailed me; specifically, the origins of the Nightshade and
Castlevania tunes, and the fact that INSERTiON starts out around 140 BPM,
not 150.
+--------------+
|16. LEGAL CRAP|
+--------------+
This FAQ is Copyright © 2007 Jesse "JesseTehSkox" Haun. You may not take this,
in whole or in part, and claim it as your own. Don't post this on your site
without express consent by me. You may not alter this in any way, shape, or
form, even so much as putting it in HTML format.
So far, these sites are the only ones allowed to post this FAQ:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.cheatcc.com
www.neoseeker.com
Any other websites who wish to post this FAQ, please ask me first. Email me
at crazyperson90@gmail.com, I'll look into it and get back to you as soon as
possible. If anyone finds this FAQ at a site not on the above list, please
let me know...
+--------------------+
|17. IN CONCLUSION...|
+--------------------+
Whew... that was a lot of writing! I hope it was worth it; I'm always far too
critical of my own work, people tell me, so you be the judge! I heart flattery
and constructive criticism. Random insults... meh, not so much. Hit me up on
crazyperson90@gmail.com, I'm eager to hear what people think of my first ever
FAQ!
Special thanks goes out to...
- CyricZ, who didn't help me out DIRECTLY, but his excellent DDR FAQs were a
huge help to me when I was first getting into DDR. He's a good guy... I
assume. :P Also, I think my classification of Tsugaru as "Oedo Techno"
comes from one of his guides... meh, better than me screwing it up! Also, I
styled this after his DDR guides, because I can't really think of a better
way to FAQ a DDR game. It just doesn't lend itself well to traditional
walkthroughs, y'know!
- Ben Harper (thePATH420), who provided some good constructive criticisms on
the Quest Mode section. I wrote that part from memory, so it's inevitable
that I'd screw some parts up. I'm just happy that the guy who caught them
wasn't a nasty bitch about it! ^_^ Specifically, thanks for reminding me
that your combo in Combo Challenges is cumulative across songs, that getting
O.K. on freeze arrows is the only thing that matters in Freeze Combo
challenges, that all Session Offers are possible to clear on Difficult, and,
most importantly, the mere presence of male dancers makes the usually sexy
ladies dance like morons.
- Starrodkirby86, for more info on the Nightshade and Castlevania songs, and a
correction to INSERTiON's BPM.
- Wikipedia, which was a huge help in gathering information on some of these
artists. Sure, I had to suffer through the evils of Google searches on some
of the more obscure ones, but still, very helpful!
- Ray O'Malley, my best friend, for emotional support and stuff.
- ...and you, the reader!
So, Universe might not be the best DDR game ever, partially because it's so
glitch-ridden... but it's not the worst mix out there, either. I personally
like the song list, let's just hope they can fix up the engine a little bit by
next year!
(Copyright 2007 Jesse Haun)